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Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution
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About This Book
From Teen Vogue sex and love columnist Nona Willis Aronowitz, a blend of memoir, social history, and cultural criticism that explores the new problem that has no name when it comes to female desire, seeking answers from the author's life and family history as well as from revolutionaries of the past. The daughter of Ellen Willis (of Second Wave Feminist fame), Nona grew up not only believing the feminist revolution was thriving, but that she was a result: She was sexually liberated, wrote her college thesis on 1970s porn, and had genuinely good sex from the time she was a teen. But then at twenty-four, she entered into an ironic and unplanned marriage that become a surprisingly seductive trap into conventional life. But eight years later that partnership was starting to show signs of wear and eventually culminated in divorce. It was in that moment of personal sea change and political tumult that Nona turned to her late mother's writing (and other revolutionaries of the past) for guidance, all while navigating the modern dating world. In a time when sex has never been more accepted and feminism has never been more mainstream, what does it mean to be sexually liberated? For readers of Rebecca Traister and Rebecca Solnit, Bad Sex is a brave, bold, and vulnerable exploration of the enduring barriers of sexual freedom, which lays bare the triumphs and flaws of contemporary feminism and also helps shine a light on universal questions of desire.
Reviews
"She references books, movies, and elections that changed sexual history—how they affected her personally and how they effected change in politics or culture."
"It's hard not to want more exploration of how an extroverted sex life, as the Washington Post opinion writer Christine Emba argues in her new book, Rethinking Sex, has become 'a sign and symbol of health and—especially for women—a political statement signifying personal power and our liberation as a class, gender, or generation.' But, somehow, we let the thoughtful and charged sex positivity espoused by Ellen Willis and her peers curdle into the practice of sex as conspicuous, often unsatisfying, consumption."
"For some, Aronowitz's prose style may feel too conversational."
"Willis's words and deeds are constant touchstones throughout this light-shedding investigation ..."
"It's a challenge to successfully chart one narrative in a book."
"While the author is skilled at synthesizing large swaths of social theory and her passion for the subject is clear, the historical sections are less compelling than the personal elements ..."
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