Question 6:
What was the most transformative sexual experience of your life?
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Question 6: What was the most transformative sexual experience of your life? |
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 I have thought long and hard about this last question, enjoying the recollections of memorable lovers and events. Eventually, however, I have come to accept that my Eureka moment came not so much from one person as it did from the dawn of feminism, which provided a wake-up call for my sexuality. It was as if a door opened with a chorus behind it -- think the Supremes -- singing "It's Okay Baby, Do Your Thing!" Since adolescence began, boys/men had been urging me into bigger and better sex, and while the body was willing, the mind -- full of images of the Censorious Mother and the Other Girls -- was wagging its finger, warning me that letting go could lose me membership in the Nice Girl Club. But more than anything, writing, searching for truth, has made it abundantly clear that feminism in the 1960s provided me with the clarion call to sex without guilt. No one gives sexual permission like women, so when I thought all the other girls were swept up in the same acceptance of sex as I was, well, the doors in my mind began to swing open. It is true that the mind is the most important sexual organ of all. I had always had erotic fantasies and had assumed other women did too. I got such a high from the idea of women controling their own bodies, their own lives. How quickly I learned, however, that many of the early feminists didn't share my interest in sex. Instead, they began to preach an anti-sex, anti-men doctrine. But for those who remained interested in sex, it became clear that sexual energy extends far beyond intercourse into all areas of our lives. That realization back in the 1960s allowed me to take the cap off all the other creative energies in my life. I became brave again, as I had been prior to adolescence, before The Rules for young girls dictated that I hold back and wait to be asked. With my sexual awakening, it wasn't just bigger and better orgasms, it was feeling comfortable reaching out with my hand to the man of my dreams, calling him, paying for his dinner, meeting him at least half way and, oh yes, doing the kind of work that really sings to me: writing about subjects that open me to further self-discovery. Freud was right. All we need for a happy life is love and work. Coming to terms with my own sexuality has enabled me to have both. |
Question 1 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale Question 2 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale Question 3 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale Question 4 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale Question 5 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale Question 6 Susie Bright Betty Dodson Nancy Friday Daphne Merkin Sallie Tisdale |
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