SHARED INTIMACIES: Women's Sexual Experiences

by Lonnie & Linda Levine Barbach ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 1980

This is one of those sex compilations likely to give some readers ideas and others nausea. It's based on the premise that women are so constrained by social no-nos that they seldom feel free to chatter about sex among themselves: hence, the authors elicited pseudonymous comments from 120 interviewees to fill our information gap. Of course, some people will enjoy learning how ingeniously others ""set the scene"" for ""gourmet love-making"": special lighting, oils, crotchless lacy underwear, etc. Others will delight in hearing that it's A-OK to masturbate (""it tones your body for intercourse with a partner,"" one woman informs us). And still others will appreciate attention to special issues: how to have a satisfying love life throughout pregnancy, while the kids are underfoot, and in later years. But the book is talky, talky, talky: the women are quoted at length, so much so that the authors have no recognizable voice; and beyond the earthy ""hints and solutions"" that the interviewees offer, most of them sound very much alike. Yes, Barbach and Levine do sum up here and there--timidly, tentatively--but even that sum is no greater than its individual parts. For highly specific solutions to individual problems only.

Pub Date: Oct. 10, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Anchor/Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION