INTIMATE MATTERS A History of Sexuality in America <i> by John D’Emilio and Estelle B. Freedman (Harper & Row: $24.95) </i>

Sex is the most intimate form of human contact, a secret, secluded realm. Sexuality, however, the concept which unites body and mind, is becoming an increasingly public subject of concern, as vocal authorities offer varied notions of rights and wrongs. They are profiled here in clear, though dry academic prose. Most pop psychologists say “feeling good” is most important, while the media depict sex as a goal, a symbol of success. (Promiscuity isn’t sanctioned in the mass media as much as the New Right might think, though, for Hollywood usually links sex to love, whether for moral or--more likely--dramatic reasons.) TV and film heroes would be pariahs in politics, in turn, for promiscuous leaders are seen as lacking stability, respectability and morality. The authors, both history professors, point out that Gary Hart’s demise, swift relative to Richard Nixon’s, symbolizes sex’s role as a “a symbol capable of arousing deep, irrational fears.”

“Intimate Matters” is a unique history. While previous studies of sexuality have been confined to psychology, biology and medicine, the authors focus on the role of social attitudes and institutions. The pattern they find is surprising, not a simple progression from repression to liberalization, ignorance to wisdom, enslavement to freedom. Physical intimacy between members of the same sex was widespread in the 19th Century, for example. Similarly, the authors contend that in the Victorian era, passionate affairs flourished under the smooth surface of repression.

By showing that the past wasn’t as prudish as we might think, the authors implicitly dispute the conservative argument that we are living in a pernicious climate of growing eroticism. The temper of this work is decidedly liberal; the anti-abortion crusade, for example, is indirectly described as “the efforts of male authorities to define female sexuality.” This liberal slant distorts some current history; the authors don’t consider the possibility that the growth of AIDS, the New Right and working couples may be encouraging more conservative definitions of spiritual union and emotional satisfaction. But it is more often helpful, motivating the authors to discover how white male heterosexuals subordinated women, homosexuals and ethnic groups.