Eunuchs for Heaven, Uta Ranke-Heinemann

This is an expose of the development of sexual ethics in the Catholic Church, which strikes back against centuries of male domination and reveals attitudes of ingrained anti-feminism and hostility to all pleasures. The author explores how women have been excluded from the ecclesiastical stage and makes a case for the history of Christianity as the history of women's progressive incapacitation. She traces these aberrations from the true spirit of Christianity through ancient heathen shibboleths to wilful misconceptions of the New Testament by church fathers who repressed sexuality. Controversial issues such as incest, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, divorce and the remarriage of divorcees are all investigated.