Pleasure

by Emma-Louise Boynton

Genres: Audiobook

Hardcover

Reviews

[Natalie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good some average and ultimately a DNF.

I found the first half of the read interesting and kept thinking all young people should be made to read this but this feeling petered out around chapter 9 and I didn’t finish the entire read.

[Rita ♡]

"𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆."

Este livro foi uma enorme surpresa, fiquei a saber dele completamente ao acaso quando fui à livraria buscar uma encomenda e a apresentação dele estava a decorrer. Já tinha visto o evento anunciado, mas pensei que não seria um livro para mim, no entanto assim que ouvi a autora ler apenas uma frase soube que tinha de o comprar.

Percebo que o livro e a capa possam deixar com o pé atrás, mas genuinamente acho que é um livro que toda a gente devia ler.

"𝑺𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒅. 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒙𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔."

Neste livro parte memoir parte investigação existe um equilíbrio perfeito entre os factos científicos e a própria experiência da autora na sua jornada para redescobrir e aceitar o seu corpo e a sua sexualidade fora das normas da sociedade.
As experiências dela são escritas de forma muito vulnerável e real de forma a fazer sentir menos sozinhas as pessoas que se passaram por coisas semelhantes.

"𝑰 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒂𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝑰 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒚."

Este livro chamou-me a atenção para muitas coisas que eu nunca tinha percebido, esta leitura foi em algumas partes como ver a trend do "there's a man" porque ela reflete muito sobre como uma sociedade patriarcal focada no homem hetero tem um impacto no nosso bem estar e saúde mental. Ela aborda como o enaltecimento do prazer do homem (não só sexual como mundano) nos fazer reprimir os nossos próprios prazeres e priorizar os outros em vez de nós próprias.

"‘𝒂 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒙𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚’ 𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒍; 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑫𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒆𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏’𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚"

Apesar de se focar muito na sua trajetória sexual e tudo o que aprendeu sobre si mesma a fazer sex teraphy ela fala muito também sobre eating disorders, patriarcado, misoginia internalizada e a importância do feminismo. Foi mesmo um abrir de olhos em vários aspetos e gostava mesmo que muita mais gente lesse.

Além disso a autora foi um amor quando a conheci e quando lhe mandei mensagem depois de terminar o livro, adoro-a!

"𝑵𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚, 𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔, 𝒉𝒂𝒈𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅- 𝒖𝒑 𝒔𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒘𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓."

[Sarah Lührmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brave, vulnerable account of Boynton’s journey of deconstructing myths around female sexuality, but more importantly, the connection between body image and sexual pleasure. Connecting the incidence of eating disorders to female sexuality felt revelatory, and something that has yet to be discussed in any of my personal or professional circles. I found the autobiographical aspects of the book superbly integrated into relevant, wider literature and found Boynton’s personal experience to be illuminated by her discussion of even slightly counter-cultural voices on pornography and sex-work. I find autobiographical literature difficult to read sometimes, because it lends itself to portraying yourself, if not the hero then the victim, of many situations; Boynton surprised me with her astute and nuanced perspectives on difficult experiences, in which she demonstrated accountability and a clear commitment to self reflection! Highly recommend!

[Ellen Renney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed the interviews/discussions at the end.
A lot of what Emma spoke about really resonated with me and gave me pause. Although once I looked beyond the surface I realised that I knew most of this within myself already.
All around, a really good memoir and a beautiful reminder to love your body, you can’t punish it into changing.

[phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great memoir! I listened to the audiobook so enjoyed the additional interviews at the end. I hadn’t heard of Emma-Louise Boynton before, so I’ll check more of her out. I’d be interested to hear more from Aleks Trkulja in the future too!

[Cressi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy moly. What a rollercoaster. It was so insightful to read about Boynton's story and her findings. I laughed, cried, nodded in resounding agreement, and learnt a huge amount. An incredibly affirming, interesting read that I'd recommend to anyone.

[Dina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 for me. Certainly important, well researched and rich with personal insights, I was just hoping for more stuff I hadn’t before come across. But, for people who are just venturing into discourses on how intimacy, bodies and misogyny are interlinked; this is an interesting enough read.

[Megsthalegs G · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting a lot of good points about how body image can affect your sex life that I have never considered, learned a lot & the interviews were a good touch!

[Kelly Woolley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn’t what I expected. Interesting read. I stopped reading the extra bits as I found it repetitive.

[Jessica C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written. Brave.

[hannah davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it but didn’t really learn anything new.

[Aoibhe · Rating 5 out of 5]

wow wow ! i ate this book up in one day it was that good

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

For every part of this that’s insightful and thought-provoking there’s a part blaming society for her questionable choices / apparent absence of her parents / justification that ALL girls do it.

[Ruby Loftus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a provocative read for my brain at the moment, wow, such obvious things but things that I have not seen spelled out in such a way like this before.

[Anna Rollins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every bit of this bold, important, and gorgeous book

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conversations with collaborators at the end was by far the most interesting part of this

[Diana Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

My two cents is if you don’t like this book you’re not a feminist. You’re male-centric. Sorry to break it to you.