SummaryShere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?
Directed By:Nicole Newnham
Written By:Shere Hite
The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83
User score
Generally Favorable
7.1
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83
100% Positive
17 Reviews
17 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 29, 2023
100
As regrettable as Hite's fate was, The Disappearance of Shere Hite goes a long way toward rectifying the wrongs done to her, whether in the name of erasure, ridicule, or willful misunderstanding.
Nov 17, 2023
90
Most gratifying in Newnham’s investigation is how Hite reclaimed her own positive sense of self in exile through some key female friendships: a love goddess finding refuge with like-minded souls after a bruising battle with unenlightened, resentful mortals.
Nov 29, 2023
89
The Disappearance of Shere Hite is an illuminating, haunting, and ruminative documentary worth watching, if not for crystalizing the history of Hite’s work on film then for a look at how much and how little things have changed for women.
Jan 10, 2024
80
If this documentary doesn’t make Hite a household name among a new generation of feminists, the biopic that should really follow it certainly will.
Jan 28, 2023
80
It persuasively makes the case that Hite, who argued that most women cannot orgasm from penetrative intercourse alone, deserves renewed recognition as a feminist trailblazer, particularly in the still-fraught arena of sexual politics, self-knowledge and liberation.
Nov 14, 2023
75
With its determination to retrace the largely forgotten steps of a feminist trailblazer, The Disappearance of Shere Hite is an essential work of archival savvy, blending popular and academic conversations with ease and precision.
Jan 30, 2023
70
The issue, we come to realize, isn’t that Hite disappeared — it’s that she was erased.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.1
82% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
9% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
9% Negative
1 Rating
1 Rating
Nov 27, 2023
8
A visually rich feature-length documentary of someone who’s name I previously recognized only from the spine of books but -- wow -- did Shere Hite have spine. Familiar themes of how adults (decline to) take in new information, of the value of confidentiality in survey research, and of the role of publicity in society, including a form of what we now know as cancel culture. For adults of college and greater age.
Production Company:
- NBC News Studios
- Sony Pictures Television
- TeaTime Pictures
- This Machine
Release Date:Nov 17, 2023
Duration:1 h 56 m
Rating:R
Awards
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards
• 3 Nominations
Nantucket Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
