LAINE, Christopher. Psychedelic Orgasm.

(Los Angeles, CA): Ultima Books, 1969. First edition. Paperback original. 192 pages. Claims to be “a case study of a girl’s climax-to-climax search in a freaked-out nightmare of drugs and perversion!” Like many similar titles of the period, that presented as academic studies, it operated within the consensus that not only did experimental use of LSD lead young women drawn to the counterculture to engage in ever more degrading acts, but actually led them to become “nymphomaniacs,” a diagnosis at the opposite end of the spectrum from frigidity, and which indicated an excessive or uncontrollable sexual desire specifically levelled at women. This volume explicitly suggests that its protagonist, Charlotte, is representative of “the archetypal hippie girl of the Sixties”: Sure enough, by the end of the book Charlotte was confined to a mental institution, diagnosed as a hapless nymphomaniac. It seems Leary’s claim that LSD might enhance women’s sexual experiences was by no means universally accepted. The volume is illustrated with five full-page photographic images and also includes a “groovy Generation” glossary. A very good copy. Uncommon WorldCat, locates just three copies.