Women, Sex, Power and Pleasure:
Getting the Life (and Sex) You Want
Author: Evelyn Resh
Publisher: Hay House
Publication Date: March 1, 2013
I don't normally read a lot of self-help books. Well, unless you count celebrity memoirs and cookbooks as "self-help." No? Okay, then I don't read a lot of self-help. So I guess I was expecting something different, like fluffy affirmations to "be your authentic self" or "find your inner sparkly vampire goddess" or something. That last one might have been from Fifty Shades of Grey (which is NOT a self-help book, FYI). But I was surprised by how straight forward, intelligent, relatable and, well, helpful this book was. With chapters like "I'm Too Fat to Have Sex" and "Becoming Your Own Activist" I felt author Evelyn Resh was almost speaking to me personally. How did she know I felt that way? How did she know this was just what I needed to hear? I guess it's partly because she's a smart, feminist professional who knows what she's talking about, and partly because a LOT of women feel just this way. I almost hate to admit it, but I almost cried when I read some parts of this book, they were so familiar.
It's not an easy thing to talk honestly about our sexuality, particularly for women--like me--who are not twenty-five, childless and supremely confident in our sexual expression anymore. There are a lot of reasons why things change as we get older and our lives get more complicated, but that doesn't make it easier to discuss. So I definitely see the value of books that help broach those subjects. I'm just so glad to have found a book that actually discusses women's sexuality in an intelligent and helpful manner, rather than one that condescends, coddles or infantilizes the reader by talking about "the girls," "your flower" or, ugh, "your cookie."
