Books

3rd Edition -- updated and expanded. The essential guide for singles and couples who want to explore polyamory in ways that are ethically and emotionally sustainable. For anyone who has ever dreamed of love, sex, and companionship beyond the limits of traditional monogamy, this groundbreaking guide navigates the infinite possibilities that open relationships can offer. Experienced ethical sluts Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy dispel myths and cover all the skills necessary to maintain a successful and responsible polyamorous lifestyle--from self-reflection and honest communication to practicing safe sex and raising a family. Individuals and their partners will learn how to discuss and honor boundaries, resolve conflicts, and to define relationships on their own terms.

DETAILS

• Authors: Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy
• Pages: 296
• Binding: Paperback

People have been thinking about sex all wrong. Mainstream media, movies, and porn have taught us that sex = penis + vagina, and everything else is just secondary. Standard penetration is how men most reliably achieve orgasm. The problem is, women don't orgasm this way. We've separated our most reliable route to orgasm - clitoral stimulation - from how we feel we should orgasm - penetration. As a result, we've created a pleasure gap between women and men:

• 50 percent of 18- to 35-year-old women say they have trouble reaching orgasm with a partner
• 64 percent of women versus 91 percent of men said they had an orgasm at their last sexual encounter
• 55 percent of men versus 4 percent of women say they usually reach orgasm during first-time hookup sex

In Becoming Cliterate, psychology professor and human sexuality expert Dr. Laurie Mintz exposes the broader cultural problem that's perpetuating this gap and what we can do about it. Pulling together evidence from biology, sociology, linguistics, and sex therapy into one comprehensive, accessible, and prescriptive book, Becoming Cliterate features:

• Cultural and historical analysis of female orgasm (spoiler: the problem's been going on for ages)
• An anatomy section (it's all custom under the hood)
• Proven techniques for cliterate sex (it starts with training the sex organ between your ears)
• A comprehensive final chapter for men (because you don't have to have a clitoris to be cliterate)

By dispelling the lies, misunderstandings, and myths that have been holding us back, Becoming Cliterate tackles both personal and political problems and replaces them with updated outlooks and practical skills needed to change our collective perspective on sex. It's time to finally inform women and men on how to have satisfying experiences in bed that benefit both parties.

DETAILS

• Author: Dr. Laurie Mintz
• Pages: 288
• Binding: Paperback

From the author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, the New York Times Bestseller, Best Book of the Year at NPR, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and many more, and instant classic

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.

“Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink—all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.”

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better, coming from one of our most interesting and important cultural critics.

DETAILS

• Author: Roxane Gay
• Page Count: 320 pages
• Binding: Paperback

Finally, a guide for lesbian, bisexual, butch, femme, androgynous, transgender, or for those who have discovered that they want to have sex with a woman. Witty and personal, The Whole Lesbian Sex Book is the most comprehensive sex guide available for lesbians, offering information and support for all lesbian lifestyles. It speaks to lesbian and bisexual readers of diverse experiences-young and old, partnered and single, trans-and traditionally gendered, sexually experienced, and new to lesbian sex. The Whole Lesbian Sex Book offers basic information techniques, advice, support, and playful discourse on the subject of lesbian sex, including where to find partners, G-spot stimulation, oral sex, vaginal fisting, dildos for fun and fashion, dynamics of butch/femme sex, anal sex, the pleasures of lube and latex, where to cop the best cybersex, and leather, piercings, tattoos, high heels, and other fetishes. 

DETAILS

• Author: Felice Newman
  
• Binding: Paperback
• Pages: 400 pages

A New York Times Best Seller!

How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life? Author and editor adrienne maree brown finds the answer in something she calls “pleasure activism,” a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work. Drawing on the black feminist tradition, she challenges us to rethink the ground rules of activism. Her mindset-altering essays are interwoven with conversations and insights from other feminist thinkers, including Audre Lorde, Joan Morgan, Cara Page, Sonya Renee Taylor, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. Together they cover a wide array of subjects—from sex work to climate change, from race and gender to sex and drugs—building new narratives about how politics can feel good and how what feels good always has a complex politics of its own.

Building on the success of her popular Emergent Strategy, Adrienne launches a new series of the same name with this volume, bringing readers books that explore experimental, expansive, and innovative ways to meet the challenges that face our world today. Books that find the opportunity in every crisis!

DETAILS

• Author: adrienne maree brown
• Pages: 464
• Binding: Paperback

Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies.

The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world--for us all.

DETAILS

• Author: Sonya Renee Taylor
• Binding: Paperback
• Pages: 159 pages