Mary Jane Sherfey (1918–1983) was an American

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

and writer on female sexuality, she received her medical degree from

Indiana University School of Medicine The Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) is a major, multi-campus medical school located throughout the US state, U.S. state of Indiana and is both the Medical school, undergraduate and Graduate medical education, graduate medical school o ...

in 1943, where she attended lectures on marriage and sexuality given by

Alfred Kinsey Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Insti ...

. Sherfey had a private practice in New York City and was on the staff of the Payne Whitney Clinic of the New York Hospital –

Cornell Medical Center Weill Cornell Medicine (; officially Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University), originally Cornell University Medical College, is the medical school of Cornell University, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in Ne ...

Early life and education

sherfey was from Brazil, Indiana. She received her bachelor degree in chemistry from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

in 1940.

Career

In 1961, Sherfey's interest in female biology was intensified when she came upon the inductor theory, which demonstrated that the human embryo is

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

until hormonally “induced” to become male. Determined to popularize a fact that had lain in neglect since its discovery in the 1950s, Sherfey began researching the subject and familiarizing herself with a variety of disciplines, including

embryology Embryology (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logy, -logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the Prenatal development (biology), prenatal development of gametes (sex ...

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

primatology Primatology is the scientific study of non-human primates. It is a diverse discipline at the boundary between mammalogy and anthropology, and researchers can be found in academic departments of anatomy, anthropology, biology, medicine, psychol ...

and

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

. Many of her findings appear in ''The Nature and Evolution of Female Sexuality'', which initially took form as an article contesting the existence of vaginal orgasm, published in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1966. In her earlier works, Sherfey noted that "the strength of the sex drive determines the force required to suppress it." In ''The Nature and Evolution of Female Sexuality'', she introduced the concept that "female sexuality was an insatiable drive that had been repressed for the sake of maintaining a civilized agrarian society" and helped to explain why knowledge of the

clitoris In amniotes, the clitoris ( or ; : clitorises or clitorides) is a female sex organ. In humans, it is the vulva's most erogenous zone, erogenous area and generally the primary anatomical source of female Human sexuality, sexual pleasure. Th ...

had been ignored or forbidden for over three hundred years.

Death

In 1983 at 65 years of age she died from a heart attack at her home in

Rusk, Texas Rusk is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, Texas, United States. At the 2020 United States census, it had a population of 5,285. History The town was established by an act of the Texas Legislature on April 11, 1846. It was na ...

Works

*The Nature and Evolution of Female Sexuality, Random House, *Anxiety and Magic Thinking: The Psychogenetic Analysis of Phobia and the Neurosis of Abandonment with Charles Odier and Marie-Louise Schoelly, Intl Universities Pr Inc,

References

1918 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American psychologists 20th-century American physicians 20th-century American women American women psychologists American sexologists People from Rusk, Texas Indiana University School of Medicine alumni Indiana University Bloomington alumni {{US-psychologist-stub