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A review by sashika_fortheloveofbooks
Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Update Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic for a New Era by Haley Swanson, Eliza Smith
4.0
Thank you to harperperennial for sending me this book. #gifted
This book contains so much depth within its pages. To go into a little background; in 1962, Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the single girl was published. Even though I have not read it, it is said that it contains some outdated advice which would be considered offensive by today’s standards.
In contrast, Sex and the Single Woman brings insights into the lives of different individuals. Women and Non-gender conforming individuals from highly diverse backgrounds, from all walks of life reimagines Brown’s classic. At the same time, this feminist anthropology brings the stories of those many women, 24 to be exact, into light. This has an amazing collection of stories about a vast range of topics that revolve around womanhood, such as contraception, abortion, queer and trans womanhood, polyamory, celibacy, interracial dating, bodies of all kinds, consent, sex work, IVF and the pop culture that both saves and fails us. I learned so much while reading this. I FELT SEEN. My favorite chapter was ‘In pursuit of brown-on-brown love’ by Jennifer Chowdhury. This is a paragraph from the said chapter,
“Despite sharing a language and cultural background, we’ve had completely different life experiences. We didn’t need to go through the same trauma to learn from each other, to respect each other’s thoughts and desires. He helped me find what I truly craved and identify what had been there all along: an unwavering sense of self.”
This book contains so much depth within its pages. To go into a little background; in 1962, Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the single girl was published. Even though I have not read it, it is said that it contains some outdated advice which would be considered offensive by today’s standards.
In contrast, Sex and the Single Woman brings insights into the lives of different individuals. Women and Non-gender conforming individuals from highly diverse backgrounds, from all walks of life reimagines Brown’s classic. At the same time, this feminist anthropology brings the stories of those many women, 24 to be exact, into light. This has an amazing collection of stories about a vast range of topics that revolve around womanhood, such as contraception, abortion, queer and trans womanhood, polyamory, celibacy, interracial dating, bodies of all kinds, consent, sex work, IVF and the pop culture that both saves and fails us. I learned so much while reading this. I FELT SEEN. My favorite chapter was ‘In pursuit of brown-on-brown love’ by Jennifer Chowdhury. This is a paragraph from the said chapter,
“Despite sharing a language and cultural background, we’ve had completely different life experiences. We didn’t need to go through the same trauma to learn from each other, to respect each other’s thoughts and desires. He helped me find what I truly craved and identify what had been there all along: an unwavering sense of self.”