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The Time of Our Lives: Women Write on Sex After 40
Book by Sumrall, Amber Coverdale, Taylor, Dena
329 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1993
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September 6, 2024
one of the big problems with a book titled "women over 40 write on sex" that gets published in 1993 is that most of these women came of age during the 60s and 70s, and are thus steeped deep into the toxic miasma that is second wave feminism (and the sexual revolution). it was a period when "feminism" meant "white upper middle class women", and selfishness and egocentrism was confused as politics (even progressive politics). needless to say, many of these pieces have not aged well.
particularly galling are the sex-starved protagonists spewing the most exorbitantly unkind invectives towards their husbands' medical issues related impotence (one because he had cancer!) and the authors write them up as sympathetic creatures and expect us to not only condone but celebrate them for their behaviour? and there are multiple pieces in this vein.
the concept itself is very interesting, so i would be very interested to see a millennial version of this book (the oldest millennials are 40+ now, so not too far). hopefully, that book would avoid the worst boomer/genX tropes that this particular collection abounds in, and present a more kinder perspective that is cognizant of privilege, ableism, class, etc -- and also have at least some pieces that are not so sex-obsessed, oh my god 2nd wave feminism sees celibacy and asexuality as mortal sin, like it's totally okay to have sex or not have sex or be anywhere in between.
the poems are generally nice though, so it gets 2 stars, otherwise it would have gotten the bare minimum rating.
(also, several of the pieces are less "women writing about sex" and more "women writing about writing about sex", meta-narratives are fine once or twice but it gets tired very quickly)
particularly galling are the sex-starved protagonists spewing the most exorbitantly unkind invectives towards their husbands' medical issues related impotence (one because he had cancer!) and the authors write them up as sympathetic creatures and expect us to not only condone but celebrate them for their behaviour? and there are multiple pieces in this vein.
the concept itself is very interesting, so i would be very interested to see a millennial version of this book (the oldest millennials are 40+ now, so not too far). hopefully, that book would avoid the worst boomer/genX tropes that this particular collection abounds in, and present a more kinder perspective that is cognizant of privilege, ableism, class, etc -- and also have at least some pieces that are not so sex-obsessed, oh my god 2nd wave feminism sees celibacy and asexuality as mortal sin, like it's totally okay to have sex or not have sex or be anywhere in between.
the poems are generally nice though, so it gets 2 stars, otherwise it would have gotten the bare minimum rating.
(also, several of the pieces are less "women writing about sex" and more "women writing about writing about sex", meta-narratives are fine once or twice but it gets tired very quickly)
Displaying 1 of 1 review