Shere Hite (/ʃɛər ˈhaɪt/ shair HYTE;[2] November 2, 1942[3] – September 9, 2020)[4] was an American-born German[5] sex educator and feminist.

[6] She also referenced theoretical, political and psychological works associated with the feminist movement of the 1970s, such as Anne Koedt's essay "The Myth of the Vaginal Orgasm".

In 1988, she made an extended appearance on the British TV discussion programme After Dark, alongside James Dearden, Mary Whitehouse, Joan Wyndham, and Naim Attallah.

Eighteen months later she left the United States because of "vicious media attacks, doorstepping, public humiliation and death threats, all of which contributed to the loss of her American publishers and of her ability to make a living", despite The Hite Report selling 50 million copies, estimated to be the 30th bestselling book of all time.

According to Briscoe she commuted between Paris, the Kensington Hilton and a mattress on the floor of a squat in north London, and perpetually swung between spending and thrift.

Hite believed that the ease at which women orgasm during masturbation contradicted traditional stereotypes about female sexuality.

As is common with surveys concerning sensitive subjects such as sexual behavior, the proportion of nonresponse is typically large.

Thus the conclusions derived from the data may not represent the views of the population under study because of sampling bias due to nonresponse.

[18] The suggestion of bias in some of Hite's studies is frequently used as a talking point in university courses where sampling methods are discussed, along with The Literary Digest poll of 1936.

Sharon Lohr argues that the distribution of questionnaires to women's organizations and the length of the questions and the allowance for long responses introduces a bias towards people who are not typical.