Sex and sexuality, social aspects Books

Book SynopsisThe International No. 1 Bestseller A BBC 2 Between the Covers Book Club Pick 'Cuts to the heart of who we are' Sunday Times 'A book that begs discussion' Vanity Fair All Lina wanted was to be desired. How did she end up in a marriage with two children and a husband who wouldn’t touch her? All Maggie wanted was to be understood. How did she end up in a relationship with her teacher and then in court, a hated pariah in her small town? All Sloane wanted was to be admired. How did she end up a sexual object of men, including her husband, who liked to watch her have sex with other men and women? 'I will probably re-read it every year of my life' Caitlin Moran 'Will have millions nodding in recognition' The Times 'As gripping as the most gripping thriller' Marian Keyes 'When I picked it up, I felt I'd been waiting half my life to read it' Observer 'The kind of bold, timely, once-in-a-generation book that every house should have a copy of, and probably will before too long' New Statesman The book Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alexa Chung, Jodie Comer, Reese Witherspoon, Harry Styles, Fearne Cotton, Caitriona Balfe, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sharon Horgan, Zoe Ball, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Davina McCall, Gemma Chan, Christine and the Queens and Gillian Anderson are all readingTrade ReviewThe most important book I’ve read this decade, and possibly ever -- Books of the Decade * Stylist *My best book of the year so far. And probably next year’s too -- Jojo MoyesControversial, detailed, spellbinding, upsetting, true and compelling in equal measure -- Books of the Year * Sunday Times *Painful and beautiful, gutting and sexy. I don’t think I’ve read a book that has captivated me as intensely as this one, which I still think about, months later, in the quietest hours of the night * Red *A book with the thrill of the new that you can expect to dominate WhatsApp threads, line Tube carriages and pop up in foreign Airbnbs for years to come * Evening Standard *The biggest debut of the year . . . Groundbreaking * Vogue *Captures the pain and powerlessness of desire as well as its heady joys -- Books of the Year * Economist *For anyone who thinks they know what women want, this book is an alarm, and its volume is turned all the way up * Time Magazine *This book wrecked me, in a good way -- Reese WitherspoonWhether you are a man curious to know how the woman in your life thinks and feels, or a woman who longs to hear someone articulate the thoughts you’ve never even admitted to yourself, Three Women should be on your bedside table * Irish Independent *

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Book SynopsisOne Nation Under Blackmail is a damning indictment of the consequences resulting from the nearly century old relationship between both US and Israeli intelligence and the organized criminal network known as the National Crime Syndicate. This book specifically explores how that nexus between intelligence and organized crime directly developed the sexual blackmail tactics and networks that would later enable the sexual blackmail operation and other crimes of deceased pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Other books on Jeffrey Epstein focus on the depraved nature of his crimes, his wealth, and his most famous/politically-connected friends and acquaintances. This book, in contrast, reveals the extent to which Epstein’s activities were state-sponsored through an exploration of his intelligence connections.

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Book SynopsisUnderstand the menopause with all its changes and challenges and choose practices and treatments, brought to you by a team of experts, to make this next stage in your wellness journey healthy and positive.Find the right combination of resources for you - to stay physically, mentally, and spiritually well throughout the menopause.Your journey is unique. This insightful book will help you find the right combination of resources that work for you. It includes:- Specialist expert writers for each section of the book - HRT, Natural Remedies, Exercise, Nutrition and Mental Wellness - Practical strategies on how to manage menopause naturally and make it a more positive, empowering experience - Symptom Finder in the introductory pages to help direct you to the correct section in the bookCoping with menopause can be tough, draining and sometimes utterly debilitating for women. For years it has been seen as an illness that needed to be cured. Nat

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Book SynopsisSex is as fascinating to scientists as it is to the rest of us. A vast pool of knowledge, therefore, has been gleaned from research into the nature of sex, from the contentious problem of why the wasteful reproductive process exists at all, to how individuals choose their mates and what traits they find attractive. This fascinating book explores those findings, and their implications for the sexual behaviour of our own species. It uses the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland' who has to run at full speed to stay where she is as a metaphor for a whole range of sexual behaviours. The book was shortlisted for the 1994 Rhone-Poulenc Prize for Science Books.Animals and plants evolved sex to fend off parasitic infection. Now look where it has got us. Men want BMWs, power and money in order to pair-bond with women who are blonde, youthful and narrow-waisted a brilliant examination of the scientific debates on the hows and whys of sex and evolution' Independent.Table of ContentsHuman nature; the enigma; the power of parasites; genetic mutiny and gender; the peacock's tale; polygamy and the nature of men; monogamy and the nature of women; sexing the mind; the uses of beauty; the intellectual chess game; the self-domesticated ape.

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Book SynopsisIn June 1969, police raided New York gay bar the Stonewall Inn. Pride charts the events of that night, the days and nights of rioting that followed, the ensuing organization of local members of the community – and the 50 years since in which activists and ordinary people have dedicated their lives to reversing the global position.Pride documents the milestones in the fight for LGBTQ equality, from the victories of early activists to the passing of legislation barring discrimination, and the gradual acceptance of the LGBTQ community in politics, sport, culture and the media. Rare images and documents cover the seminal moments, events and breakthroughs of the movement, while personal testimonies share the voices of key figures on a broad range of topics. Pride is a unique celebration of LGBTQ culture, an account of the ongoing challenges facing the community, and a testament to the equal rights that have been won for many as a result of the passion and determination of this mass movement.A fully updated edition of Matthew Todd's essential 2019 book, Pride is a celebration and a clarion call. Table of ContentsIntroduction • A time of revolution • Culture: Literature • Bonnie's Stone Wall • At the Inn • The night they buried Judy Garland • The Stonewall riots • Christopher Street Liberation Day • Culture: Music • First London Pride • Timeline: Key progress in the 1970s • You Gotta Give 'em Hope – Harvey Milk • The early 1970s and the Naked Civil Servant • Culture: Nightlife • Culture: Theatre • Disaster • Culture: Art • Timeline: Out in Office • Outrage! • Culture: Movies • Lesbian Avengers • Allies • Culture: Television • Proud to Serve • Marriage • Timeline: transgender rights • Culture: Sport • Hate • No One Left Behind • Index • Credits.

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Book SynopsisAt a time when women are more vocal than ever about our lives, there's one last taboo.We need to talk about porn.‘Briskly confronting...porn is an inescapable part of the environment we all share and should be talked about honestly… this book is an important start.’THE SUNDAY TIMES'Celebrates women's sexuality but also unflinchingly reveals the truth of how women are perceived - and used - in society by men.'A STYLIST best non-fiction pick for 2024When we think about porn today, we still mostly think about men. Men as the producers and the consumers. Women as the product. Most women aren't talking to each other about what they do and don't do with porn - not really. And when we do talk about it, we are divided into unhelpful binaries: for or against? Liberation or coercion? Too sexual or not sexual enough? But in a world where porn sites get more traffic than Netflix, Amazon plus Twitter combined, and one of the leading sites claims a third of its users are women, isn't it time to change that?In this book, interviews with 100 women result in an extraordinary and powerful conversation on pornography. How they first encountered it. How they consume it. How it has affected their sex lives. What they like and what they don't. And what it means for their relationships.Eye-opening, provocative and deeply moving, this book navigates the polarised public debates, to open an intimate window into porn and the sexual lives of women today.Trade Review‘Briskly confronting...porn is an inescapable part of the environment we all share and should be talked about honestly… this book is an important start.’ * Sunday Times *'Celebrates women's sexuality but also unflinchingly reveals the truth of how women are perceived - and used - in society by men.' * Stylist best non-fiction for 2024 *‘A sensitively written and generous piece of work’ * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisNever before have prostitution, strip clubs and pornography been as profitable, widely used or embedded in mainstream culture as they are today. How society should respond to the rise of the sex trade is shaping up to be one of the Twenty-First Century''s big questions. Should it be legal to pay for sex? Isn''t it a woman''s choice whether she strips for money? Could online porn warping the attitudes of a generation of boys? An increasingly popular set of answers maintains that prostitution is just work, porn is fantasy, demand is inevitable; so fully legalise the sex trade and it can be made safe. Kat Banyard contends that these are profoundly dangerous myths. Sexual consent is not a commodity, objectification and abuse are inherent to prostitution, and the sex trade poses a grave threat to the struggle for women''s equality.Skilfully weaving together first-hand investigation, interviews and the latest research, Pimp State powerfully argues that s

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Book SynopsisRUBY RARE - NOW STAR OF CHANNEL 4 SHOW SEX RATED Written by sex educator and body-positivity advocate Ruby Rare, Sex Ed is the practical and fun guide to sex that you’ve always wanted – but never known how to ask for. This is the information you should have been taught at school: a no-holds-barred roadmap that covers everything from how the brain is the most important sex organ and how to communicate what you want to yourself and a partner, all the way down to the messy stuff – solo sex, orgasms, touching, kissing, blow jobs, cunnilingus, anal play, lube, toys, kegels. After all, sex education shouldn't start and end with putting a condom on a banana.

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Book SynopsisWere the 1960s really a great time of liberation and joyful experimentation? Growing Up takes an unflinching look at the dark underbelly of the sexual revolution.No era in recent history has been both more celebrated and vilified than the 1960s. And at the heart of all that controversy - the music, drugs, fashion, hopes, dreams and political movements - is sex.In this wide-ranging and eye-opening survey of the sexual landscape of the 1960s, Peter Doggett has assembled a dozen little-known stories that reveal how the sexual revolution transformed people's lives - for better or worse.'An important reappraisal of a decade that changed us, for good and ill' Sunday Times'Fascinating...shows rather conclusively that the sixties was not a sexual paradise' Evening Standard'Creates an account of the 1960s that, unlike most popular histories, does not edit out the grim bits' Mail on SundayTrade ReviewThe case to rethink our assumptions about the period is one Doggett makes with verve and controlled passion ... An excellent book -- David Aaronovitch * The Times, *Book of the Week* *[A] fascinating...new book about the decade [the 60's] -- Rachel Cooke * Observer *Refreshingly undogmatic, well-researched and highly readable -- David Kynaston * Spectator *I very much enjoyed the ride. Growing Up's strengths lies not so much in it being an expert guide to the seedier side of the 1960s (which it certainly is) but in the question Doggett has woven in every chapter, but just manages to leave unsaid: just how much has changed? -- Kate Lister * Daily Telegraph *In rich and playful prose, Growing Up knits together material from newspapers, women's magazines, films, television and pop music to create an account of the 1960s that, unlike most popular histories, does not edit out the grim bits -- Louise Perry * Mail on Sunday *An important reappraisal of a decade that changed us, for good and ill -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times *Peter Doggett's fascinating new book Growing Up shows rather conclusively that the sixties was not a sexual paradise -- Tomiwa Owolade * Evening Standard *

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Book SynopsisA Sunday Times Book of the Year As featured on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club Dr James Barry: Inspector General of Hospitals, army surgeon, duellist, reformer, ladykiller, eccentric. He performed the first successful Caesarean in the British Empire, outraged the military establishment and gave Florence Nightingale a dressing down at Scutari. At home he was surrounded by a menagerie of animals, including a cat, a goat, a parrot and a terrier. Long ago in Cork, Ireland, he had also been a mother. This is the amazing tale of Margaret Anne Bulkley, the young woman who broke the rules of Georgian society to become one of the most respected surgeons of the century. In an extraordinary life, she crossed paths with the British Empire’s great and good, royalty and rebels, soldiers and slaves. A medical pioneer, she rose to a position that no woman before her had been allowed to occupy, but for all her successes, her long, audacious deception also left her isolated, even costing her the chance to be with the man she loved.Trade Review‘A scintillating portrait of Barry’s life…that feels almost Dickensian in style.’ * Guardian *‘An astounding story – of obstinacy, ambition, genius, fearlessness and pioneering feminism.’ * Daily Mail *‘Thoroughly engaging.’ * Sunday Times, Books of the Year *‘Gripping, unusual, moving.’ * Times, Books of the Year *‘A comprehensive account.’ * London Review of Books *'Fascinating’. * History Today *‘Thoroughly researched, stimulating…Highly recommended’. * The Lady *‘Fascinating’ * Irish Independent *‘An irresistible little byway in 18th-century medical and social history’. * Oldie *‘An elegant and sensitive biography…du Preez and Dronfield have done Margaret Buckley and her alter ego proud in this absorbing book.’ * The Times *‘At each turn of this quite gripping biography I found myself gasping in disbelief…the excavations of Michael du Preez…and Jeremy Dronfield…have yielded startling new evidence about the period…Their research is authoritative and prodigious’. * Literary Review *‘This fantastic book is so much more than a biography of a very remarkable woman. The thread of her personal story weaves its way through a meticulously researched record of a fascinating period in world history…compulsive reading.’ -- Dame Margaret Turner-Warwick, first female President, Royal College of Physicians‘A cracking story’. -- Maggie Fergusson * Spectator *‘This is a fascinating account of the life and career of Dr James Barry as a doctor working in the early nineteenth century. Although Dr Barry obtained a Diploma from this College in 1813 it is only now through this book we are able to fully understand and recognise her achievements.’ -- Clare Marx, President, the Royal College of Surgeons of England‘I found the book immensely enjoyable. It’s a fascinating story, told with verve, sensitivity and skill – the result of an awe-inspiring amount of research and detective work, managed with delicacy and flair. I felt the book had a real feel for the times and I appreciated its firm historical grounding, and the way in which imagination and a rigorous approach to fact played so well together. A marvellous read, and a story worth telling.’ -- Rodney Bolt, author of The Impossible Life of Mary Benson‘This is the extraordinary and remarkable story of the transformation of Margaret Bulkley, a red-haired Irish girl from Cork, into Dr James Barry, physician, medical reformer, friend of the rich, friend of the poor and fearless and irascible scourge of the stupidity, complacency, ineptitude and greed of Britain’s Colonial establishment. Dr James Barry kept his great secret for over fifty years and the truth that he was, in fact, a woman was only revealed to an incredulous public after his death. Meticulously researched and written with great verve, this biography is about as good as it gets.’ -- Neil McKenna, author of Fanny & Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England'Extensively researched, a fascinating story of a woman taking extreme measures to work in a man’s world.’ -- Richard Hollingham, author of Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery

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Book SynopsisThe searing, must-read feminist essay from the author of A Girl is a Half-formed Thing 'Fearless ... A fierce and fascinating manifesto in McBride's persuasive prose' Sinéad Gleeson 'Formidable' Vogue In this galvanizing essay, Eimear McBride unpicks the contradictory forces of disgust and objectification that control and shame women. From playground taunts of 'only sluts do it' but 'virgins are frigid', to ladette culture, and the arrival of 'ironic' porn, via Debbie Harry, the Kardashians and the Catholic church - she looks at how this prejudicial messaging has played out in the past, and still surrounds us today. McBride asks - are women still damned if we do, damned if we don't? How can we give our daughters (and sons) the unbounded futures we want for them? And, in this moment of global crisis, might our gift for juggling contradiction help us to find a way forward? 'A satisfying feminist polemic' Susie Orbach 'Remarkable' Scotsman 'Eimear McBride is that old fashioned thing, a genius' GuardianTrade ReviewA fearless, interrogative work that speaks so much to structural inequality and misogyny. A fierce and fascinating manifesto in McBride's persuasive prose -- Sinéad GleesonA satisfying feminist polemic -- Susie Orbach * Guardian *A fierce, clear-eyed examination of the myriad ways in which women are objectified ... remarkable -- Stuart Kelly * Scotsman *Formidable -- Hayley Maitland * Vogue *An invigorating call to refuse the disgust directed at women * Herald *McBride is a very skilful prose stylist and is indubitably right to be incensed at the double standards and sheer prejudice of our culture * iPaper *Something Out of Place is an erudite contribution to that growing impulse in contemporary nonfiction: to cast one's testimony out into the void in the hopes that another will answer, and then another and another, and that each will be as exactingly executed, as deeply nuanced as the one preceding it * Irish Times *A brief and vivid polemic about disgust and shame and how they are used to such successful effect to disempower women ... There is something very exciting about contemplating a future for women where our disagreements about how best to live don't translate into weakness and division -- Megan Nolan * New Statesman *

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Book SynopsisA SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BLACKWELL'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021 Essential lessons on the world we live in, from one of our greatest young thinkers – a guide to what everybody is talking about today ‘Unparalleled and extraordinary . . . A bracing revivification of a crucial lineage in feminist writing’ JIA TOLENTINO ‘I believe Amia Srinivasan’s work will change the world’ KATHERINE RUNDELL ‘Rigorously researched, but written with such spark and verve. The best non-fiction book I have read this year’ PANDORA SYKES ------------------------- How should we talk about sex? It is a thing we have and also a thing we do; a supposedly private act laden with public meaning; a personal preference shaped by outside forces; a place where pleasure and ethics can pull wildly apart. To grasp sex in all its complexity – its deep ambivalences, its relationship to gender, class, race and power – we need to move beyond ‘yes and no’, wanted and unwanted. We need to rethink sex as a political phenomenon. Searching, trenchant and extraordinarily original, The Right to Sex is a landmark examination of the politics and ethics of sex in this world, animated by the hope of a different one. SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2022 LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI FIRST BOOK PRIZE 2022 LONGLISTED FOR THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE 2022Trade ReviewThe best book I’ve read recently … Incredible -- Emily RatajkowskiQuietly dazzling … A brilliant, rigorous book. [Srinivasan] coaxes our imaginations out of the well-worn grooves of the existing order * New York Times *I’ve thoroughly audited why anyone should skip The Right to Sex, and I couldn’t think of any reasons. Srinavasan’s work is too interesting to be perfect. It’s superb -- Naoise Dolan * Irish Times *A daring feminist collection . . . Srinivasan accomplishes what she sets out to do: deliver a treatise both ambivalent and discomfiting, one which reveals the inadequacies in what we had imagined to be solutions * Guardian *Sex has always been a minefield, but surely never more than now. In The Right to Sex, Srinivasan shows us mines I barely knew existed * Sunday Times *To say that Srinivasan’s challenging, complex, and – for some – controversial essays are a must-read is a colossal understatement * DAZED *With her debut book, The Right to Sex, a 36-year-old Oxford don is dazzling everyone * Observer *Srinivasan demonstrates how the feminist philosopher can emancipate our basic ethical concepts from the stranglehold of patriarchy, capitalism, and state racism – and this is a remarkable and promising effort -- Judith Butler, New Statesman[This] ambitious, magisterial work stands out in the ongoing tide of dull, girl boss feminism arguing for personal empowerment over collective liberation . . . In a world of easy, one-dimensional answers, [Srinivasan] is unquestionably the real deal * Vogue *Amia Srinivasan is the most brilliant feminist theorist writing today. Each essay in The Right to Sex is a masterpiece on its own; taken together, they show how learning to think carefully and precisely about the politics of desire is the preeminent ethical project of our time -- Merve EmreThe Right to Sex is absolutely extraordinary. Read it! -- Ash SarkarLaser-cut writing and a stunning intellect. If only every writer made this much beautiful sense -- Lisa Taddeo, bestselling author of 'Three Women'Amia Srinivasan’s magnificent first book announces itself as a classic -- Professor Samuel MoynAmia Srinivasan reveals both the material opportunities and dead-ends of a century-long conscious trajectory towards female empowerment. The Right to Sex reminds us of the foundational complexities to Women's Liberation ideas and why we are still grappling with them -- Sarah SchulmanFascinating . . . Amia must be one of the leading thinkers around on the subject of sex and her work is both stimulating and challenging -- Helena Kennedy

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Book SynopsisOne Nation Under Blackmail is a damning indictment of the consequences resulting from the nearly century old relationship between both US and Israeli intelligence and the organized criminal network known as the National Crime Syndicate. This book specifically explores how that nexus between intelligence and organized crime directly developed the sexual blackmail tactics and networks that would later enable the sexual blackmail operation and other crimes of deceased pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Other books on Jeffrey Epstein focus on the depraved nature of his crimes, his wealth, and his most famous/politically-connected friends and acquaintances. This book, in contrast, reveals the extent to which Epstein#&39;s activities were state-sponsored through an exploration of his intelligence connections.

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Book Synopsis''With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic'' Colm Toibin''Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer'' Robert Macfarlane''Haunted and haunting - totally riveting'' Chris KrausAt the turn of the century, in the shade of Cambridge''s cloisters, a young E. M. Forster conceals his passion for other men, even as he daydreams about the sun-warmed bodies of ancient Greece. Under the dazzling lights of interwar Paris, Josephine Baker dances her way to fame and fortune and discovers sexual freedom backstage at the Folies Bergère. And on Jersey, in the darkest days of Nazi occupation, the transgressive surrealist Claude Cahun mounts an extraordinary resistance to save the island she loves, scattering hundreds of dissident artworks along its streets and shorelines.Nothing Ever Just Disappears brings to life the stories of seven remarkable figures and illuminates the connections between where they lived, who they loved, and the art they created. It shows that a queer sense of place is central to the history of the twentieth century, and powerfully evokes how much is lost when queer spaces are forgotten. From the lesbian London of the suffragettes to James Baldwin''s home in Provence, to Jack Smith''s New York, Kevin Killian''s San Francisco and the Dungeness cottage of Derek Jarman, this is a thrilling new history and a celebration of freedom, survival and the hidden places of the imagination. Trade ReviewNothing Ever Just Disappears is about what happens to a house or a room, or a whole town or city, when it is transformed by a powerful sensibility. With originality and subtlety, Diarmuid Hester examines how the gay imagination deals with place and with displacement, allowing for mystery and a kind of magic -- Colm ToibinFascinating journeys into LGBTQ+ courage… Hester is attentive to atmosphere, as influenced by both culture and community, and how it acts on individual lives, sometimes expanding horizons and sometimes restricting them… Throughout, Nothing Ever Just Disappears celebrates the courage it took for these queer people merely to exist, and exist honestly, in a hostile world -- Sarah Watling * Observer *Remarkable and expansive… Intrinsic to the power and beauty of this book are Hester’s own voice, story and powers of imagination… tremendously absorbing… The great gift of this book is to offer access to optimism, in these late and shadowed days. It provides a glimpse, a possibility for transformation, and an escape from the closed and shuttered spaces of late capitalism; and it suggests that we may be able to save ourselves by rethinking our lives and imaginations, our societies and systems – by queering our world -- Neil Hegarty * The Irish Times *A revelatory look at queer culture… imaginative and engrossing… fresh, spry… a resolutely unpretentious prose style – sometimes animatedly conversational, sometimes wonderfully camp – goes hand in hand with scholarliness -- Michael Donkor * i News *Intriguing and idiosyncratic… a very lively and readable book that shows the ways in which outsiders have created interfaces, of variable permeability, with the society in which they lived -- Peter Parker * Spectator *Riveting and evocative… Written with infectious drive, Nothing Ever Just Disappears is considered, fascinating and sparkles with insight * Attitude Magazine *Diarmuid Hester has written a book I have always wanted to read. An exploration, celebration and reclamation of queer lives within their spaces and landscapes, it roams from the cloisters and locked gates of Cambridge to the hilly streets of San Francisco, the apartments of New York City and the nuclear desert of Dungeness's shingle-shore, where Derek Jarman created a world on the margins and of the margins. Hester is a fizzingly brilliant writer, and with its fusion of personal testimony, reportage, cultural history and literary criticism, this book will surely find a wide readership -- Robert MacfarlaneA moving, erudite book. Writing against the tide of erasure, Hester takes us on a journey through time, over land and sea, and casts an empathetic and sharply humorous eye on this pantheon of queer figures. A hymn to the importance of community and place, this is a vital public history of queer life that is both intimate and wondrously radical -- Seán Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness WideDiarmuid Hester's beautifully written psycho-biography explores obscure corners of places as sites of hidden queer histories. His portraits of writers and activists from E.M. Forster to Josephine Baker, London's queer suffragettes and Kevin Killian are haunted and haunting - totally riveting -- Chris KrausA charming, playfully challenging companion on a dreamy quest through lost landscapes of defiance, imagination and desire -- Jeremy Atherton LinHester's book takes the reader on a beguiling journey from country to country. Full of extraordinary details, it delves deep into queer creative minds from the past, offering up a refreshingly original perspective on the human connection to sense of place -- Luke Edward HallFrom Dungeness to San Francisco, the motley wildness of these gay pioneers is told with fitting zest by Hester. I loved it -- Martin LathamHester's book is insightful, delightful, and enlightening: an essential entrant into the queer canon -- Isabel WaidnerLightly, yet seriously, Hester's immersive prose takes us on a journey that colourfully loops together the transgressive with the political. Heady descriptions of varied queer lives are rooted in the materiality of vividly conjured places. A ‘flummox of friends’ comes to life as their stories mix, mingle and collide. Stirring, thoughtful and gorgeously fun to read -- Kiare LadnerNothing Ever Just Disappears is a book I have longed for without knowing I was missing, much like the vanished or vanishing queer spaces Hester evokes so vividly in its pages. Deftly, beautifully, it performs an enchanting queering of literary tourism and artists' house studies, from failures of epiphany we all experience in places that we expect to move us, to awkwardness about how best to honour our creative forebears in all their human complexity. It is both a much needed and engaging history of queer creative lives and their places, complicating notions of sites of production and dwelling as ’secular shrines’, and a moving memoir of Hester’s own creative geographies: the places and people that matter to him and have informed his own thinking. This book, as Hester writes, ‘is ritual’ - both pilgrimage in its writing and its reading. Once you have gazed into the convex mirror, you can’t unsee the resplendent queer world you encounter there -- Polly Atkin

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Book SynopsisFor most of western history, all sex outside marriage was illegal, with the church and state punishing any dissent. Between 1600 and 1800, this entire world-view was shattered by revolutionary new ideas - that consenting adults have the freedom to do what they like with their own bodies, and morality cannot be imposed by force. This groundbreaking book shows that the creation of this modern culture of sex - broadcasted and debated in a rapidly expanding universe of public media - was a central part of the Enlightenment, and helped create a new model of western civilization whose principles of equality, privacy and individual freedom last to this day.Trade ReviewPath-breaking ... touching ... This is a marvellously rich and thought-provoking book, written with clarity and humanity, and drawing on a huge range of materials, from sermons to pornography to social statistics -- Noel Malcolm * Sunday Telegraph *The Origins of Sex overturns the conventional wisdom that the sexual revolution began in the Sixties ... baby boomers will be shocked and, I suspect, a little upset -- Cosmo Landesman * Sunday Times *A revelation ... The book is not simply a finely crafted work of history, but a study that will reshape the way its readers understand the most intimate level of their lives.It may even bring some sanity to modern debates about sexuality -- Diarmaid MacCulloch[A] sumptuously rich, learned and enlightening debut ... What makes Dabhoiwala's book so gloriously enjoyable is its happy blend of provocative ideas with splendidly rich historical anecdotes ... [a] lucidly written, densely researched and thoroughly persuasive book -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *An extraordinary kind of sex book [from] one of Oxford's brightest stars. His fat tome, The Orgins of Sex, took 20 years of historical research and is garnering the kind of "magisterial" reviews that cast Dabhoiwala in the role of the younger, cuter, Simon Schama -- Helen Rumbelow * The Times *Faramerz Dabhoiwala's The Origins of Sex, an enthralling history of changing ideas about sexual freedom and desire from 1600 to 1800, interestingly blends progressivist and circular approaches. He shows us a Western world (mainly England) emerging from medieval sexual morality and enjoying 200 years of relative freedom, but he also shows it sliding back into repression and denial in the 19th century. The future remains a question mark... his book [is] inspiring as well as provocative -- Sarah Bakewell * The Independent *In The Origins of Sex, Faramerz Dabhoiwala does for the history of sexual attitudes what Lawrence Stone did for the history of sex and the family. Rigorously academic in his approach, Dabhoiwala focuses on intellectual and social currents to trace the grand sweep of sexual attitudes between 1600 and 1800. His aim "is not primarily to enter into the bedrooms and between the sheets of the past", but to examine sex as a public, rather than private, preoccupation. It needed a writer as erudite as Faramerz Dabhoiwala to knit together established theories of changes in the Enlightenment and weave in the primary sources to show how sex figures in the bigger picture. The book is packed with information and peppered with fascinating examples. It will delight students of social and sexual history, and anyone interested in the history of ideas -- Times Literary Supplement * Julie Peakman *

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Book SynopsisBorn in 1940, Lillian Faderman is the only child of an uneducated and unmarried Jewish woman, who, along with her sister, left their shtetl in Latvia to seek a better life in America. However, her mother''s family were murdered by Nazis and their home destroyed in the war. Her mother, racked by guilt at having left her family behind, suffered from a terrible psychosis. The only relief she had from this, and her brutal sweatshop job, was her daughter, Lilly.Lilly grows into Lil, a beautiful young woman who learns that her deepest erotic and emotional connections are with other women, and who finds herself in a dangerous but seductive world of addicts, pimps, prostitutes and sham-marriages.Desperately seeking to make her life meaningful and to redeem her mother''s suffering, she studies at University of California, Berkeley; paying her way by working as a pin-up model and burlesque stripper, and hiding her lesbian love-affairs from the outside world. At last she becomeTrade ReviewLillian Faderman's portrait of her mother and aunt, lone survivors of their slaughtered family, who have come to America laden with hope, is full of tenderness and candor and sharp, often hilarious wit. It is her unsparing portrait of herself, however, that makes this book so riveting. She is serious and ambitious, loving and stubborn. She is ready to risk everything for knowledge. She also writes beautiful sentences, and her book is likely to become a classic self-portrait in a time of change in America -- Colm TóibínA startling, dark, and wryly eloquent retelling of the American Dream. Who'd have thought a professor's life could be such a gripping page-turner? -- Emma Donoghue, author of ROOM and SLAMMERKINHow one woman used her good looks to land the girl of her dreams, and found a career where she could use her brains instead of her breasts. Today Lillian Faderman is a distinguished academic; her early days among Holocaust-scarred relatives and lesbian pimps on Sunset Strip are a testament to a personal vision in the face of historical struggle -- Sarah Schulman, author of THE COSMOPOLITANS, RAT BOHEMIANS and MY AMERICAN HISTORYA remarkable tale of emergence, bold and exciting, and wonderfully told -- Vivian Gornick, author of FIERCE ATTACHMENTSThis riveting autobiography is vivid, honest, generous, compassionate, and sensuous all at once. Its strength lies in its understanding of historical moments that are important to all women and its ability to make them come alive in a very personal way for each one of us -- Chitra Divakaruni, author of THE VINE OF DESIRE and THE UNKNOWN ERRORS OF OUR LIVESAn incredible memoir of a damaged mother and her observant daughter. Lillian Faderman has written with an amazing voice, a clear-eyed view, and wisdom on how we both save and surmount the past. Hers is a life that is truly worth recording and sharing with all of us. The photos alone are worth the price of admission. -- Amy Tan, author of THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT, THE BONESETTER'S DAUGHTER and THE JOY LUCK CLUBTable of ContentsForeword Part One: Lilly 1 How I Became an Overachiever 2 Going Crazy in East L.A. 3 Crushed 4 Men I 5 Shedding Part Two: Lil 6 Hollywood 7 My Movie-Actress Nose 8 The Open Door 9 Getting the Gift of Wisdom 10 Kicked Out 11 A Jewish Prince 12 A Married Woman Part Three: Lillian 13 Higher Education 14 How I Became a Burlesque Queen 15 Men II 16 Professor Faderman 17 How I Became a College Administrator 18 Sheaves of Oats 19 Epilogue Afterword Acknowledgements About the Author

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling collection of poetry and prose from the Ted Hughes Award winning author of Nobody Told MeTrade ReviewPiercing poetry . . . This is exactly what we all need. The inimitable words of poet/goddess Hollie McNish once again holds up honest, damn funny and refreshing takes on the everydayness of our lives: the social demands, sex and orgasms, our bodies, judgement from friends (and ourselves). Never have we needed her more -- Francesca Brown * Stylist *An intoxicating mixture of poetry and prose, [Slug] is a taboo-busting delight . . . McNish's poems are direct, comic, tragic, warm, thought-provoking and often come with a sting in the tale, but her prose also flows off the page like red wine freely swilled with friends on a night out, or in . . . McNish effortlessly navigates the bitter and sweet throughout . . . There is an articulate approachability to all her writing . . . She is clear-sighted on why we need to talk about menstruation, masturbation and all sorts of gender and race inequalities, normalising these normal topics . . . McNish is eminently readable and relatable because she is both fallible and fascinating -- Fiona Shepherd * Scotsman *I love Hollie's poems. There is such raw honesty and warmth and often humour within them. She is one of the best poets we have -- Matt HaigMcNish has a striking capacity for intimacy in places least expected. There are no tricks in her work, except like all the best magicians and wordsmiths, I can see what she's doing but not how she did it. The poetry world needs a Tracey Emin like the art world did. It's Hollie McNish -- Lemn SissayNo one blends honesty, humour and humanity quite like poet and author Hollie McNish . . . Mixing prose and poetry, it's an insight into McNish's mind, spanning topics from motherhood to masturbation. We love this reminder to stuff our lives full of joy while we can; a tribute to life itself * Red Magazine *Funny, true, loving and lethal, Hollie McNish's new collection Slug is a total joy * Stylist *As I read every few pages of Hollie McNish's delightful new book, I was smiling, teeth out . . . . Slug is a sparkling mix of memoir, poetry, essays and short stories . . . Reading her feels like the relief you get when somebody else hears your most private worries and says: me too. She backs it all up with science, intimate confessions and wicked one-liners -- Helen Brown * Telegraph *I've loved her work for years -- Jo BrandA new collection from the exciting and divisive Ted Hughes Award winning poet and author of Nobody Told Me. This time she's tackling birth, death and female body parts with her characteristic confrontational gaze -- Claire Allfree * Metro (Ten gripping books to look out for in 2021) *For everyday pick-me-ups, rages, frustrations, joy and belly laughs, Hollie McNish's books of poetry and essays are best kept on your bedside table to break open as required . . . Laugh-out-loud funny - keep it close * Stylist *Gloriously earthy and accessible, McNish's mash-up of prose and poetry covers the modern female condition with lashings of wit, intelligence and irreverent wisdom * Waterstones (blog) *Hollie is a total wordsmith. She makes me howl with laughter one moment and burst into tears the next -- Paapa EssieduGorgeous fingering poems -- Bryony Gordon, author of Mad Girl and The Wrong KnickersHollie always articulates exactly how I feel, like she lives in my head -- Charly Cox, author of Validate Me and She Must Be MadHonest and insightful, hilarious and impudent. We could all do with paying attention to what McNish tells us through her writing, where she directs our attention and the worlds she opens -- Anthony Anaxagorou, author of After the FormalitiesSlug covers so much - motherhood, gender, lockdown, loss, sex and a multitude of other topics - and yet Hollie McNish explores each with such care, nuance and wit. Hugely moving, very funny, this is an irreverent, uplifting and sharp collection of prose, poetry and fiction -- Anna James, former editor at The Bookseller and author of the Pages & Co seriesFrom the defiant title to the irreverent, incisive and transgressive poetry within, Slug is an encyclopedia for negotiating twenty-first century living. McNish's work is a constant challenge to sexism, racism, intolerance and bigotry, each piece delivered with the swag of a girl queuing up outside the Headteacher's office. Whatever the subject, the result is warm, often hilarious and sometimes furious. No other contemporary UK writer addresses the needs of women and mothers more directly and consistently than McNish. Her voice is relevant, vibrant and defiant. She just blew smoke in your face -- Joelle Taylor, poet, playwright and authorSlug is a great call to arms for women and their bodies -- Athena Lamnisos, CEO of Eve Appeal charityReading this book is like sharing secrets with your best friend. It's funny, it's sometimes salacious, it's honest, at times heart-breaking, angry and most of all deeply human * Doula Magazine *Within the first six pages I had phoned my dad to tell him I love him and had a crying fit about how much I miss my gran, so well done I say -- Shappi KhorsandiI can't take my ears off her -- Benjamin ZephaniahMakes so many of us feel seen . . . [Hollie] quickly breaks the heart and then heals it, before you have time to even take a breath -- Kara Scott, TV personality, journalist and poker player

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Book SynopsisWATERSTONES BEST POLITICAL BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2021LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDALI am absurdly excited for this book' Caroline Criado PerezBestselling author KatrineMarçalreveals the shocking ways our deeply ingrained ideas about gender continue to hold us back. Every day, extraordinary inventions and innovative ideas are side-lined in a world that remains subservient to menBut it doesn't have to be this way. From the beginning of time, women have been pivotal to our society, offering ingenious solutions to some of our most vexing problems. More recently, it is women who have transformed the way we shop online, revolutionised the lives of disabled people and put the climate crisis at the top of the agenda.Despite these successes, we still fail to find and fund the game-changing ideas that could alter the future of our planet, giving just 3% of venture capital to female founders. Instead, ingrained ideas about men and women continue to shape our economic decisions; favouring men and leading us to the same tired set of solutions.For too long we have underestimated the consequences of sexism in our economy, and the way it holds all of us women and men back. Katrine Marcal's blistering critique sets the record straight and shows how, in a time of crisis, the ingenuity and intelligence of women is that very thing that can save us.Trade ReviewPraise for Mother of Invention ‘A book with a radical agenda … Marçal wants nothing less than a revolution in the way we think about ourselves.’ The Times ‘A smart, witty and fascinating warning from history. I loved this book.’ CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ, Bestselling Author of Invisible Women ‘wry and witty … it’s high time to put the needs of all people and the planet at the heart of invention.’ KATE RAWORTH, author of Doughnut Economics ‘This is an absolute must-read. Equal parts informative and infuriating.’ DR FERN RIDDELL, author of Sex: Lessons from History ‘From wheeled suitcases to witch trials, Katrine Marçal makes you look again at history in this funny, clever and provocative book’HELEN LEWIS, author of Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights ‘…Infuriating, but always thought-provoking and intriguing. A clearly-needed wake-up call to future innovators not to view the world through a narrowly gendered lens but to pay attention to the skills and lived experiences of all. ‘PROFESSOR GINA RIPPON – bestselling author of The Gendered Brain [Katrine] brilliantly proves how male-driven technology over the ages has limited full human development by neglecting a liberating female narrative and perspective.’ JAN ELIASSON, Former Deputy Secretary-General of the UN ‘Mother of Invention had me nodding along in emphatic agreement. To tackle the substantial problems ahead, we cannot afford to innovate with ‘one hand tied behind our backs.’ IRISH TIMES ‘This second book by the author of Who Cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner? is both bracing and highly entertaining. Marcal’s contention is that while women have been coming up with ingenious inventions since the beginning of time, they are routinely sidelined in a world geared to men.’ THE BOOKSELLER

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Book SynopsisA landmark study of the history of male-male sex in early modern Europe, including the European colonies and the Ottoman world.Until quite recently, the history of male-male sexual relations was a taboo topic. But when historians eventually explored the archives of Florence, Venice and elsewhere, they brought to light an extraordinary world of early modern sexual activity, extending from city streets and gardens to taverns, monasteries and Mediterranean galleys. Typically, the sodomites (as they were called) were adult men seeking sex with teenage boys. This was something intriguingly different from modern homosexuality: the boys ceased to be desired when they became fully masculine. And the desire for them was seen as natural; no special sexual orientation was assumed.The rich evidence from Southern Europe in the Renaissance period was not matched in the Northern lands; historians struggled to apply this new knowledge to countries such as England or its North American colonies. And whTrade ReviewAfter Forbidden Desire ...sexuality studies has been moved into a new space. * Todd Reeser, Author of Setting Plato Straight: Translating Ancient Sexuality in the Renaissance, and Professor of French and Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, USA *Sir Noel Malcolm continues to produce books of the highest quality. I have had the privilege of reading the typescript of his latest book, Forbidden Desire in Early-Modern Europe: Male-Male Sexual Relations, 1400-1750. It is a work of stunning erudition, drawing upon material in most European languages. About 170, 000 words long, and written with Sir Noel's customary elegance and lucidity, it is far and away the best book to have been written on this challenging subject. * Sir Keith Thomas, Author of Religion and the Decline of Magic, and Honorary Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford *A book of startling originality and depth. The abundance of Malcolm's archival research, the range of languages and the geographical diversity of his material are stupendous... No one else has had the temerity or linguistic skills to attempt so comprehensive a survey. * Richard Davenport-Hines, The Spectator *Ambitious... full of real scholarly inquisitiveness and human sensitivity. * Daniel Brookes, Daily Telegraph *[A] magnificently researched and gripping book. * Andrew Hadfield, Irish Times *[A] learned forensic analysis... timely work. * Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Times *Noel Malcolm's survey... debunks many myths, but mostly catalogues the extreme violence perpetrated against those judged to have broken religious doctrine. * Peter Conrad, The Observer *A masterclass of what historians can and cannot do with evidence... Malcolm is one of the few preternaturally gifted linguists who could take on such a diverse source base... Noel Malcolm's sweeping survey has given us a lot to chew on. It is a powerful indictment of a priori theorizing. His answers raise new questions that need further investigation. * Jan Machielsen, TLS *[A] deeply erudite, highly original and epoch-making book... This is a work of formidable scholarship that will transform its subject but, like all the best historians, Malcolm is also an elegant writer who never allows his vast corpus of material to obscure his argument... this is an academic page turner. * Daniel Johnson, Engelsberg Ideas *An important [book], put together with the ambition and carefulness that those familiar with Malcolm's work on other topics have come to expect... this is likely to be an epochal study in its field. Powered by breathtaking care and scholarship, it is a book that specialists will be grappling with for years to come. * Tim Smith-Laing, Literary Review *Marshaling an impressive array of sources, Malcolm's lucid prose conveys a vivid sense of the lived realities of his subjects. The result is a landmark volume of social history. * Publishers Weekly *The sweep of this book is impressive and its erudition is without question. It moves easily from broad analysis to specific detail... a scholarly work of history, taking a measured and informed view. * Lucy Wooding, The Tablet *Table of ContentsGregorio and Gianesino Diplomats, Renegades, and Catamites Prejudices Ottoman Realities Western Mediterranean Realities: Men and Boys Contexts of Sexual Life Typical and Untypical The Western Mediterranean Lands Theology and Religion Law and Punishment Literary Works Western Mediterranean Attitudes Ottoman Religion, Law, and Culture Northern Europe: Broad Patterns Northern Europe: Forms of Sexual Behaviour Northern Europe: Contexts of Sexual Life Northern Europe: Literary Works European Colonial Societies England after 1700 France and the Netherlands after 1700 Conclusion: From Sodomy to Homosexuality

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Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Men are responsible for all unwanted pregnancies. Why? Ovulation is involuntary. Ejaculation is not. It is also true that...- Men are 50 times more fertile than women- Birth control is hard to access, use, and comes with numerous side effects- Vasectomies are less risky than tubal litigationsYet, it''s women who are expected to do the work of pregnancy prevention. Why must women be responsible for men''s bodies, as well as their own?Rather than endlessly exploring how and why we control women''s bodies in the highly polarised anti-abortion and pro-choice ''debate'', Ejaculate Responsibly makes a witty and unflinching case for why men must be held accountable for their reproductive choices. There are zero consequences for men who ejaculate irresponsibly. It''s time to shift the responsibility - and burden - of pregnancy prevention onto men.''A gorgeous manifesto'' Oprah Daily ''A tactical, full-throated cry for men to step up'' Vogue Trade Review'A gorgeous manifesto' -- Oprah Daily'A tactical, full-throated cry for men to step up' -- Vogue'Flashes of acerbic humour and eye-opening statistics bolster Blair's common-sense case. This polemic has the power to change minds' -- Publishers WeeklyHats off to Gabrielle Stanley Blair for pointing out so clearly the elephant in the room in any discussion about contraception or abortion - that it's high time for men to stop focusing on legislating women's bodily autonomy and instead turn the spotlight on their own role in unwanted pregnancy. A small but mighty book -- Milli Hill, author of Give Birth like a Feminist

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Book Synopsis''One of the great social historians of our time. No one else makes history this fun'' Amanda Foreman''How Was It For You? subtly but powerfully subverts complacent male assumptions about a legendary decade'' David Kynaston--------------------------------A feeling that we could do whatever we liked swept through us in the 60s . . .The sixties: a decade of space travel, utopian dreams and - above all - sexual revolution. It liberated a generation. But mostly men.Meet dollybird Mavis, debutante Kristina, bunny girl Patsy, industrial campaigner Mary and countercultural Caroline. From Carnaby Street to Merseyside, white gloves to Black is Beautiful, their stories illustrate a turbulent power struggle, throwing an unsparing spotlight on morals, drugs, race, bomb culture and sex.This is a moving, shocking book about tearing up the world and starting again. It''s about peace, love and psychedelia, but also misogynyTrade ReviewVirginia Nicholson is one of the great social historians of our time, and How Was It For You? is another jewel in her crown. No one else makes makes history this fun -- Amanda ForemanThey say that if you remember the 1960s you weren't really there. But if you really weren't, then the next best thing is to read this fascinating book. With the meticulous attention worthy of a Vidal Sassoon haircut, Virginia Nicholson has shaped her dazzling kaleidoscope of facts, feelings and observations, into a razor-sharp account of the women who lived through that tumultuous decade -- Juliet NicolsonEssential reading for all those who lived through it, and for those who came after -- Marina Lewycka, author of A Short History of Tractors in UkrainianIntimate, immersive, often moving, How Was It For You? subtly but powerfully subverts complacent male assumptions about a legendary decade -- David KynastonHow Was It For You? brings it all back. As always Virginia Nicholson's book is full of fascinating history and fascinating new material. It makes it feel like the Sixties have never been away, which they never have been, as far as I'm concerned. Wonderful -- Hunter DaviesA hugely ambitious, kaleidoscope of a book, written in a sympathetic but also hard-headed tone that captures squalor and tragedy as well as glamour -- Richard Vinen, author of The Long '68Virginia Nicholson's social history of the lives of women during the 1960s is an absorbing study of an extraordinary age. Beautifully written and intensively researched, it covers a wide range of characters and many levels of society, uncovering with remarkable perspicacity a world of rebellion and change. I am sure How Was It for You? will remain a vital study for many years to come -- Selina HastingsWritten with verve, wit and empathy, this account of the 1960s skilfully interweaves the lives of individual women with broader social and cultural changes. Virginia Nicholson nudges the reader to reconsider the well- beaten tracks and to reflect upon out-of-the-way experiences. Best of all How Was It For You? neither idealises nor excoriates the bouncy, controversial decade -- Sheila RowbothamEvery baby boomer should read this great and wonderfully revelatory book if only to shout, 'Ah yes, that's exactly what it was like for me!' -- Anne Sebba, author of Les ParisiennesFor those of us who missed the 60's, Virginia Nicholson catapults this era to roaring, authentic life. Rich with intimate voices and a keen edged analysis of the public perceptions at work, this book brilliantly evokes the struggle between the urgent change and the heavily freighted forces of tradition that defined this singularly compelling decade. Read it. It is unputdownable -- Priya ParmarA tremendous achievement... a triumph of research and organisation - but also of sympathy * Observer on Millions Like Us *An important and humane book of female social history * The Times on Perfect Wives in Ideal Homes *A ground-breaking book, richly nuanced with titbits of information, insight and understanding * Daily Mail on Singled Out *Virginia Nicholson is the outstanding recorder of British lives in the twentieth century. She has told us how it was for British women - and therefore of course for men and children - in the twentieth century. The formidable research and sympathetic understanding of so many different lives make this account of the 1960s - that swinging, sexy, revolutionary decade - the most vivid and moving of all her works. A fascinating decade, a fascinating book -- Carmen Callil, author of Bad FaithI loved this. Yes, the 1960s were good fun, sometimes. But Virginia Nicholson forensically unpicks what "promiscuity" really meant for flower-chicks, fearful of seeming un-cool. They were perpetuating a society as patriarchal and phallocentric as ever - even in the counter-culture. I was there, and she's right. Amazingly right about so many things. Roll on the 1970s when things did change - but that's for another of her excellent books -- Valerie Grove, author of Laurie LeeSparklingly readable . . . Having read Nicholson's magisterial and sensuous overview of the decade, I feel I'm floating above the Sixties (a bit like Lucy in the Sky) and looking down on them with a new understanding -- Ysenda Maxtone Graham * The Times *The stories are terrific -- Rosie Boycott * Financial Times *This vivid comprehensive study brought so many memories flooding back to me! It's a treat for those of us who were around in the sixties, and delightfully instructive for those who weren't -- Dame Jacqueline WilsonSparkling . . . there is a wonderfully diverse range of voices . . . we have a long way to go, but reading this book made me grateful for how far we have come * The Sunday Times *Clever . . . absorbing * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis* A genuine cult book that contains an extraordinary wealth of information.Trade ReviewI discovered many nuggets, and so will anyone, for it is an indispensible addition to the library or just the bedside table. * GAY TIMES *engrossing...fascinating... If you kept this book in the loo your visitors would never emerge! * EROTIC REVIEW *

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Book SynopsisSuppose that everything we think we know about ''The Victorians'' is wrong? That we have persistently misrepresented the culture of the Victorian era, perhaps to make ourselves feel more satisfyingly liberal and sophisticated? What if they were much more fun than we ever suspected? Matthew Sweet''s Inventing the Victorians has some revelatory - and entertaining - answers for us. As Sweet shows us in this brilliant study, many of the concepts that strike us as terrifically new - political spin-doctoring, extravagant publicity stunts, hardcore pornography, anxieties about the impact of popular culture upon children - are Victorian inventions. Most of the pleasures that we imagine to be our own, the Victorians enjoyed first: the theme park, the shopping mall, the movies, the amusement arcade, the crime novel and the sensational newspaper report. They were engaged in a well-nigh continuous search for bigger and better thrills. If Queen Victoria wasn''t amused, then she waTrade Review'This is a profoundly stimulating and entertaining book'. D. J. Taylor, Sunday Times; 'Matthew Sweet has opened a blast of fresh air into the hothouse of Victorian studies. His book is packed with weird and wonderful information'. Spectator; 'He tells his revisionist version exceedingly well, describing a lurid thrill-seeking populace avid for sensation. Colourful characters parade through chapters that demonstrate how innovative, fast-paced, diverse and radical the era was. Sweet has turned his scholarly research through the detritus of high and low 19th-century culture into a page-turning piece of pop-culture history... A darned good read, and no mistake,' Big Issue

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Book Synopsis'Captivating, emphatic and deeply inspiring, Sexual Revolution lifted me greatly by envisioning the possibilities of our moment' V (formerly Eve Ensler) 'Brilliant; vital; revolutionary' Kate Manne _________________ This is a story about how modern masculinity is killing the world, and how feminism can save it. It’s a story about sex and power and trauma and resistance and persistence. Sex and gender are changing, and the world is changing with them. In this time of crisis, we are also witnessing a productive transformation: a revolutionary change in how we define gender, sex, consent and whose bodies matter. This sexual revolution is a threat to the social and economic order. It undermines the existing power structures and weakens the authority of institutions from the waged workplace to the nuclear family. No wonder the far right is fighting back so hard. Told with Laurie Penny’s trademark urgency and candour, Sexual Revolution is a hand-grenade of a book: both a manifesto for social change and a story of how feminism can save us.Trade ReviewThis broad, ambitious book skilfully skewers everyday sexisms … Penny is a skilled polemicist, and their underlying argument, if not exactly original, is vital: that questions of sex and love are central to politics … A perfect summation of our cultural double standards … Penny has a knack for identifying missed connections … This is a broad, ambitious book, and Penny’s writing is vivid and passionate * New Statesman *A call to arms . . . Sexual Revolution is about shining a spotlight on the changes that are already happening, and encouraging them, despite the backlash, despite the fear * Irish Times *This is a voice of blazing fury. These are the clear, ferocious words of a millennial, intersectional feminist . . . Penny connects up the dots of the many issues impacting on women’s lives and links them through to the attitudes of a patriarchal, racist and capitalist society . . . The book contains many blistering arguments, including the reminder that what we are tackling is not just one sexual violence case but a whole culture . . . Sexual Revolution provides an analysis of how far we have yet to go * Herald *Laurie Penny's searing critique of male dominance, violence and supremacy traces the link between everyday sexism and the far right's project of biopower. Penny's quiet but incandescent anger burns through every page, guiding with wit and erudition us towards solutions that involve a hitherto discounted possibility: that men might change -- Paul MasonLaurie Penny’s electric new book boldly announces that the feminist sexual revolution is here; we are in the midst of a ‘fundamental reimagining of gender roles and sexual roles, work and love, trauma and violence, pleasure and power.’ Captivating, emphatic, and deeply inspiring, Sexual Revolution lifted me greatly by envisioning the possibilities of our moment -- V (formerly Eve Ensler), author of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES and THE APOLOGYBrilliant; vital; revolutionary -- Kate ManneLaurie Penny is a true gift. Their excoriation of the patriarchy and its continued harm against all humans is life-giving, and perhaps only matched by the exceptional warmth and good humour they express while making great strides to change the world -- Clementine Ford, author of FIGHT LIKE A GIRLI can't really think of another writer who so consistently and bravely keeps thinking and talking and learning and trying to make the world better -- Caitlin Moran (praise for Laurie Penny)

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Book SynopsisTHE CONTROVERSIAL SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. Candid, fearless and provocative – the author of American Psycho on who he is and what he thinks is wrong with the world today. Bret Easton Ellis is most famous for his era-defining novel American Psycho and its terrifying anti-hero, Patrick Bateman. With that book, and many times since, Ellis proved himself to be one of the world’s most fearless and clear-sighted observers of society – the glittering surface and the darkness beneath.In White, his first work of non-fiction, Ellis offers a wide-ranging exploration of what the hell is going on right now. He tells personal stories from his own life. He writes with razor-sharp precision about the music, movies, books and TV he loves and hates. He examines the ways our culture, politics and relationships have changed over the last four decades. He talks about social media, Hollywood celebrities and Donald Trump.Ellis considers conflicting positions without flinching and adheres to no status quo. His forthright views are powered by a fervent belief in artistic freedom and freedom of speech. Candid, funny, entertaining and blisteringly honest, he offers opinions that are impossible to ignore and certain to provoke.What he values above all is the truth. ‘The culture at large seemed to encourage discourse,’ he writes, ‘but what it really wanted to do was shut down the individual.’ Bret Easton Ellis will not be shut down.Trade ReviewThe first work of non-fiction from the American Psycho author is very good . . . the best thing he has published for years * Sunday Times *A winning mixture of incautious autobiography and caustic polemic, with plenty of sharp social observation thrown in . . . What a timely book this is – bursting with wit and diablerie, shameless, bracing and fun. * Mail on Sunday *A splenetic analysis of the culture of today . . . occasionally brilliant, often thought-provoking * The Times *Not everybody is going to like it. He doesn’t care. * New York Times *For the youthful twitterati, I suppose, he’s just another old white man who hates everything -- Hugo Rifkind * The Times *This attack on political correctness in the Twitter age . . . has all the sound, fury and insignificance of a misguided rant posted at 3am * Guardian *Ellis will lose friends over this book. * Wall Street Journal *Best described as a provocation . . . it’s up to you, the reader, to choose to what degree you are prepared to allow yourself to be riled. * Observer *@BretEastonEllis Your book White is staggeringly good. I’m loving it. Thank you so much for your style, your humour and your honesty. -- Eric Idle (on Twitter)

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Book SynopsisA FRANK, FUNNY AND EMPOWERING CELEBRATION OF FEMALE PLEASUREAn orgasm will help you sleep and keep you looking younger, it doesn’t cost money and isn’t a scarce resource. So why is it that, like the pay gap, there is an ‘orgasm gap’ between women and men? The Hotbed Collective began life as a podcast with a mission ‘to make life better one orgasm at a time’. Their debut book, More Orgasms Please is an open, honest and at moments hilarious dive into all aspects of sex for women. It covers feminist porn, body image, menopause and much more. Like the podcast that inspired it, More Orgasms Please is like the best sort of chat between friends: punchy and playful, normalising and educating. It is an eye-opening read that puts women’s bodies and our right to pleasure firmly on the map. Think of it as ‘Couch to 5k’ ... for orgasms. Trade ReviewHonest and fun… this put women’s bodies and our right to pleasure firmly on the map * Stylist *More Orgasms Please is readable in the extreme, full of personality and genuinely funny as well as relatable * Mail on Sunday *Intelligent, witty women with friendly voices and great advice * Bustle *Enjoyable, friendly, realistic, upbeat * Guardian *Excellent * Spectator *

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Book Synopsis'A genius writer' FABULOUS MAGAZINE· Explore your sensuality· Discover your inner power· Reclaim your sexuality with this gentle and mind-opening journal by sexual priestess and activist Lucy-Anne Holmes.When Lucy-Anne Holmes was in her mid-thirties, she had an epiphany about sex: she realised that she hadn't even skimmed the surface of how fulfilling it could be. So, she took herself on a sexual odyssey. Ten years on, after countless explorations, sex festivals and workshops, she was initiated as a sacred sexual priestess. She now shares everything she has learned about how liberating and empowering sexual self-knowledge can be.Guided by Lucy, on each day of the 28 days you'll be invited to read, to write and to do something around the following themes: Your Love, Your Body, Your Sex, Your Intimacy, Your Desire, Your Pleasure, Your Power, Your Playfulness, Your Surrender, Your Sacredness, Your Vision.This book features a host of activities to discover and play, including: activation mediations, touch practises, sex magic, self-pleasure experiments, sex audits, games to play with friends or lovers, plus opportunities to get creative and express your sexual self through various artforms, and much more.Consider this your own personal pleasure school. Prepare to be wowed and enlightened, inspired and excited as you acquaint yourself with the glorious uniqueness of your sexuality.Praise for Women on Top of the World'Searingly honest ... A beautiful and important work' VANITY FAIR'Holmes has done an admirable job' SUNDAY TIMES'The female gaze at its purest... An important read' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT Praise for Don't Hold My Head Down'Absolutely essential . . . So funny, hopeful, truthful and needed' Caitlin Moran'A must-read. . . will make you laugh yourself silly' Laura Bates'I can't express how much I loved this book. And how evangelical I feel about it. I want to rush out and buy copies for every woman, and actually every man, I know' Caroline Criado-Perez

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Book SynopsisIn this astonishing account, Iceberg Slim reveals the secret inner world of the pimp, and the smells, sounds, fears and petty triumphs of his world. A legendary figure of the Chicago underworld, this is his story: from defending his mother against the men in their lives to becoming a giant of the streets. A seething tale of brutality, cunning and greed, Pimp is a harrowing portrait of life on the wrong side of the tracks, and a rich warning from a true survivor.Trade ReviewSlim belongs to the knuckle-duster-in-the-face school of storytelling * * Sunday Times * *Slim always told it as it was, without compromise -- IRVINE WELSHPimp is hot and frantic, a remarkable tour de force of carnality and violence * * The Times * *This brutally honest memoir . . . is as shocking today as ever. A precursor of forty years of black-street culture, this is uncompromising and harrowing, but a landmark book nonetheless * * Big Issue * *Iceberg Slim does for the pimp what Jean Genet did for the thief * * Washington Post * *Pimp is an eye-boggling netherworld documentary, a tear-arse tale of ferocious emotion, expressed through action * * Q magazine * *Iceberg Slim always kept it real. It is blatant, uncompromising, and as close to the truth as you can get without going there yourself -- Ice-T

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Book SynopsisAt 30, Laura Doyle, like millions of women, was miserable in her marriage, but she couldn''t put her finger on the cause. ''I was lonely and I was exhausted from trying to do everything myself. When I learned to stop controlling and criticising my husband and practised receiving graciously, something magical happened. The union I had always dreamed of appeared. The man who had wooed me was back,'' writes Doyle. In THE SURRENDERED WIFE, Laura Doyle presents a radical and controversial approach to relationships: women can enjoy great sex, harmony and the intimacy they crave when they stop controlling their partner. Surrendering, she says, is the simplest principle for a great marriage and thousands of women swear by it. Covering both the emotional and practical aspects of marriage, it teaches women valuable lessons including how to respect the man they married, how to resist the temptation to bicker and how to trust their man. But most importantly, it shows how you can fall in love with

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Book SynopsisDrawing on over 300 prosecutions of sex acts in colonial New Spain between 1530 and 1821, Zeb Tortorici shows how courts used the concept against nature to try those accused of sodomy, bestiality, and other sex acts, thereby demonstrating how the archive influences understandings of bodies, desires, and social categories.Trade Review"Sins Against Nature is a true tour de force. Zeb Tortorici has painstakingly searched numerous archives in Mexico. He has provided detailed notes and has integrated significant theoretical findings into his analysis. Tortorici has written an outstanding book that will, no doubt, shape the scholarly debates within Latin American history and sexuality studies for many years to come." -- Anderson Hagler * Transmodernity *"The cases in Sins against Nature . . . are equally rich in their layering of cultural complexity: religious versus secular, indigenous versus colonial, action versus desire. Tortorici helps us appreciate the challenges of understanding sexuality, not only in colonial New Spain but also in the present." -- Vernon Rosario * Gay & Lesbian Review *"Tortorici has written an expansive, thoughtful, provocative, and innovative encyclopedic work. . . . While Tortorici generously invites his readers to peruse the documents themselves in a digital archive that he has made accessible, his book should stand for many years as an indispensable contribution to the history of so-called unnatural sexuality in New Spain. . . . With this book, Tortorici has singlehandedly raised the historiographical standard for the topic of viceregal sexuality and also made an important contribution to archival theory." -- Nicole Von Germeten * Hispanic American Historical Review *"Sins against Nature fills a critical need for queer methodological approaches to colonial Spanish American history. Tortorici conducts rigorous and historically specific analyses of colonial Spanish America while insisting on a self-reflexive and fluid approach to the research process itself. The book provides scholars both a way for thinking about archives, sexuality, and desire under Spanish colonialism and, as important, guidance on the ethics and implications of historical research in the field and beyond." -- Matthew Goldmark * TSQ *"You will never forget your first time reading Zeb Tortorici’s excellent book. . . . There is so much to praise in Sins Against Nature that it is difficult to know where to begin. . . . Sins Against Nature belongs in your hands and on your bookshelf." -- Jarett Henderson * Itinerario *"This book stayed with me long after I had read it. Tortorici has a gift for bringing to life the people involved in these archival cases and humanizing many of them and the communities from which they came." -- Stephanie Kirk * Early American Literature *"Tortorici has produced a well-written and deeply-researched book that will spark conversations, appeal to specialists, and work well in graduate seminars on historical methods and gender and sexuality in colonial Latin America." -- Evan C. Rothera * Journal of Global South Studies *"Tortorici presents a carefully researched, soundly supported, erudite work of scholarship." -- Aimee E. Hisey * Journal of Social History *"Tortorici’s innovative work is essential reading for historians of colonial sexuality, detailing as it does the ways in which the 'unnatural' was defined and catalogued in New Spain." -- Linda A. Curcio-Nagy * American Historical Review *"Tortorici's intimate narration of both the case and his own archive experience opens consideration and conversation of fundamental ethical questions in the discipline.… The seduction, the titillation of archival discovery is not limited to research on sex. For many historians, it is the experience of research itself. And for that reason, Sins against Nature holds broad appeal, not only for colonial Latin Americanists or historians of sexuality but also for anyone teaching or practicing the craft of history." -- Chad Black * H-LatAm; H-Net Reviews *"Tortorici has provided us with one of the best single books on the history of Latin American homosexuality.… It will become a classic of queer history in Mexican historiography." -- Martin Nesvig * EIAL *Table of ContentsA Note on Translation ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction. Archiving the Unnatural 1 1. Viscerality in the Archives: Consuming Desires 25 2. Impulses of the Archive: Misinscription and Voyeurism 46 3. Archiving the Signs of Sodomy: Bodies and Gestures 84 4. To Deaden the Memory: Bestiality and Animal Erasure 124 5. Archives of Negligence: Solicitation in the Confessional 161 6. Desiring the Divine: Pollution and Pleasure 197 Conclusion. Accessing Absence, Surveying Seduction 233 Appendix 255 List of Archives 261 Notes 263 Bibliography 297 Index 309

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Book SynopsisNever before have prostitution, strip clubs and pornography been as profitable, widely used or embedded in mainstream culture as they are today. How society should respond to the rise of the sex trade is shaping up to be one of the Twenty-First Century''s big questions. Should it be legal to pay for sex? Isn''t it a woman''s choice whether she strips for money? Could online porn warping the attitudes of a generation of boys? An increasingly popular set of answers maintains that prostitution is just work, porn is fantasy, demand is inevitable; so fully legalise the sex trade and it can be made safe. Kat Banyard contends that these are profoundly dangerous myths. Sexual consent is not a commodity, objectification and abuse are inherent to prostitution, and the sex trade poses a grave threat to the struggle for women''s equality.Skilfully weaving together first-hand investigation, interviews and the latest research, Pimp State powerfully argues that s

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Book SynopsisJoin Richie Sadlier as he guides you through the exciting and challenging world of adolescent sexuality, providing the kind of information, guidance and insights that will help you on your journey. Drawing on his experiences working with teenagers in his therapy practice and delivering workshops in schools about consent, sex, relationships and porn, he delves into issues that are sometimes uncomfortable to discuss but important to understand.You're not expected to have all the answers at your age, but Let's Talk will help you ask the right questions of yourself and your partners along the way. Above all, it will help you have conversations that will hopefully continue for years to come.

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Book SynopsisRose and Rosie are known for their candid and hilarious YouTube videos... but now they are taking oversharing to a whole new level. Discussing sexuality, revealing secrets and empowering others, OVERSHARE is a book packed with Rose and Rosie''s unique take on friendships, fame, mental health and LGBT issues.As visibly out members of the LGBT community, they open up about their own experiences, both together and as individuals, and have written this book in the hope that it gives strength to those who have faced similar difficulties. They are spreading a message of positivity and inclusivity, and want everyone to feel comfortable in their own skin, no matter what their sexuality. Delve deep into the unfiltered highs and lows of Rose and Rosie''s life: family relationships, secrets of a happy marriage, struggles with OCD and anxiety, finding love and navigating the world as a gay couple. Get ready to laugh, cry, cringe and OVERSHARE.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize 2022. This valuable exploration of work duality calls for recognition of the experiences of sex workers, featuring the accounts of individuals who take extraordinary risks to hold jobs in both sex industries and non-sex work employment.Table of ContentsForeword by John Lowman Introduction “You can’t make a living doing porn”: Laith “I am the same me in bookings as I am out”: Sage “I was an escort on a bike”: Kora “Maybe it will be good for British girls because less Europeans coming into the industry”: Darcy “I was outed in one of the tabloid newspapers”: Anonymous “They are both shitty jobs … because I’m not free”: Sierra “Don't judge us as different from you": Wyatt Postscript

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Book SynopsisSarah Imhoff tells the story of the queer, disabled, Zionist writer Jessie Sampter (18831938), whose body and life did not match typical Zionist ideals and serves as an example of the complex relationships between the body, queerness, disability, religion, and nationalism.Trade Review“Sarah Imhoff presents the remarkable story of Jessie Sampter, whose life breaks with all the conventional associations of a Zionist pioneer. Disabled due to polio, living with a woman in mandate-era Palestine, and a pacifist and internationalist with right-wing Zionist politics, Sampter violated expectations and flouted conventions. Using feminist theory and crip theory, Imhoff reconstructs Sampter’s life and the vital challenges she presented in her day and in our own.” -- Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth CollegeTable of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction 1 1. A Religious Life 27 2. A Life with Disability 68 3. A Queer Life 106 4. A Theological-Political Life 144 5. Afterlives 193 Notes 223 Bibliography 249 Index 263

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Book SynopsisMillions of women in our country experience some mix of low desire, absent pleasure, tanking lust and elusive orgasms. It's just stress, motherhood, anxiety, poor body image, or plain old boring monogamy though, right? Wife loses interest, husband is left cold for too long-these and similar narratives have been accepted as the norm. With The Pleasure Gap, Katherine Rowland aims to dismantle such claims once and for all. Women aren't less sexual than men, she asserts, for one and they're certainly not predetermined to lose sexual drive as they age. And, in fascinating new accounts featured by Rowland, a growing number of women are taking steps to reignite their sexuality. Through rich narrative accounts of dozens of women and sexual health professionals, science journalism, social criticism and compelling profiles of women from all walks of life, Rowland argues that the pleasure gap is neither medical malady nor psychological condition but rather a result of our culture's troubled relationship with women's sexual expression and pleasure.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION 'Brilliantly summons up one girl's life, dreams and suffering. It's ingenious history writing' Mail on Sunday 'A gripping, unputdownable masterpiece' - Hallie Rubenhold, author of The Five 'Extraordinary' - Guardian 'Historical writing does not get any better than this' Matt Houlbrook, author of The Prince of Tricksters 1910, Wellington, New Zealand. Lydia Harvey is sixteen, working long hours for low pay, when a glamorous couple invite her to Buenos Aires. She accepts - and disappears. 1910, London, England. Amid a global panic about sex trafficking, detectives are tracking a ring of international criminals when they find a young woman on the streets of Soho who might be the key to cracking the whole case. As more people are drawn into Lydia's life and the trial at the Old Bailey, the world is being reshaped into a new, global era. Choices are being made - about who gets to cross borders, whose stories matter and what justice looks like - that will shape the next century. In this immersive account, historian Julia Laite traces Lydia Harvey through the fragments she left behind to build an extraordinary story of aspiration, exploitation and survival - and one woman trying to build a life among the forces of history.Trade ReviewA gripping, unputdownable masterpiece of scholarly historical research and true crime writing. -- Hallie RubenholdBrilliantly summons up one girl's life, dreams and suffering. It's ingenious history writing * Mail on Sunday *Extraordinary * Guardian *Historical writing does not get any better than this ... Imaginative and compelling, impassioned and powerful, and deeply, deeply moving -- Matt Houlbrook, author * Prince of Tricksters and Queer London *A gripping, unputdownable masterpiece of scholarly historical research and true crime writing. Julia Laite explores the sordid world of crime, sex and international policing in 1910 by focusing on the individuals caught up in an elaborate web of exploitation. Readers who loved The Five will find this story and its skilful telling equally as enthralling. -- Hallie Rubenhold, author * The Five *Demonstrates how, with determination, sensitivity and a careful dose of imagination, extraordinary recoveries are possible ... Laite has taken her slim archival trace and immeasurably enriched it; she has reclaimed a woman's life and restored a more complex reality to the record. -- Sarah Watling * Guardian *One of the great storytellers of her generation, Julia Laite provides a lens through which we can view the practices and experiences of sex trafficking in the early twentieth century. Along the way, Laite nudges us to think about the ethics of telling another person's story. Riveting, powerfully argued and emotionally moving. -- Joanna Bourke * Fear: A Cultural History *A careful, empathetic reconstruction of the early-20th-century vice trade, placing the victims at the heart of the narrative and returning their dignity to them. This is a moving and compelling work of great scholarship. -- Sarah Wise, author * The Blackest Streets *Historical writing does not get any better than this ... Working out from one trial at London's Old Bailey, Laite provides a vivid account of a globalising world at the start of the twentieth century. Imaginative and compelling, impassioned and powerful, and deeply, deeply moving, this book is also a signal example of the contemporary political stakes of writing about the past -- Matt Houlbrook, author * Queer London *With an inventive mix of sources, Laite brilliantly summons up one girl's life, dreams and suffering. It's ingenious history writing, but as the author says, it's a story being repeated daily for today's victims of traffickers. * Mail on Sunday *History at its most rigorous and imaginative. Laite provides an insightful account of the regulation of sex trafficking in the early twentieth century and an enthralling encounter with some of the people involved in one of its more salacious episodes. ...A history book that often reads more like a novel, and that challenges the clichés of villains, victims, and heroic rescuers that dominate writing on sex trafficking. ... A masterwork * Australian Book Review *

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Book SynopsisProvides information on relevant research studies, key debates, and on operational and procedural mattersIncludes reflective material for practitioners working in the field An edited collection which academic staff can adopt for core or specialist modules which focus on prison management, prison officer training, and the occupational cultures of prison staff.Table of Contents1. Introduction Part 1: Prisons and Staff Issues 2. Personal reflections on prison staff 3. Prison staff: an international perspective 4. The experiences of black and minority ethnic prison staff 5. Prison officers and gender 6. Prison staff in the public and private sector Part 2: Prison Officers 7. Industrial relations in prisons 8. Understanding prison officers: culture, cohesion and conflict 9. Staff and order in prisons 10. Creating ghosts in the penal machine: prison officer occupational morality and the techniques of denial 11. 'An inconvenient criminological truth': pain, punishment and prison officers Part 3: Prison Managers 12. Prison governors: new public managers? 13. Change management in prisons 14. 'Resisting the scourge of managerialism': on the uses of discretion in late-modern prisons 15. The role of middle and first-line managers Part 4: Prison Staff 16. The changing face of probation in prisons 17. Teachers and instructors in prisons 18. Psychologists in prisons 19. The prison drug worker 20. Health professionals in prisons Part 5: Developing the Human Resources of Prisons 21. Recruitment and assessment of prison staff 22. Training and developing prison staff 23. The experience of prison officer training Part 6: Conclusion 24. Concluding comments on the social world of prison staff

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Book SynopsisCelebrate the LGTBQ community with this small but perfectly formed guide to Pride. What began as a protest for gay rights following the Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York has grown to become a global celebration of LGBTQ culture. In the 50-odd years since the original protest, and what is now widely accepted to be the first Pride march – Christopher Street Liberation Day, 1970 – Pride events are now attended by millions each year, celebrating how far we’ve come, recognising where we have to go and highlighting important causes in the queer community. The Little Book of Pride is a concise look at everything you need to know about Pride, revealing the history, the key people involved, the best Pride events around the world, inspirational quotes from famous queers, Pride facts and a fun Pride survival guide.Trade Review'A little book with a huge insight. I wish I’d had this book growing up gay.' – Tom Allen, Comedian 'Wonderful...Despite what the title may indicate, this book is far from little.' - USA Today.com"Wonderful... With over 140 pages, this is a comprehensive look at Pride." – MSN.com

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe PERFECT GIFT for your long-suffering wife or prospective bride. Or, for any fool of a husband or seriously deluded groom-to-be who hasn''t yet understood what he''s signed up for.-------------------- Tina is getting married. It is the best day of her life.Next year, she will claim that becoming a mother was the best day of her life, but only because she was on some very strong drugs.Neither is true. The best day of her life was on her eighth birthday, when she got a yellow bike. --------------------The wife likes surprises.Her favourite sort is a surprise birthday party.It is the husband''s job to organise this surprise for her, and to keep her informed of every detail about it.--------------------This delightful book is the latest in the series of Ladybird books which have been specially planned to help grown-ups with the w

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Book SynopsisAn auto-ethnography of cross-dressing, framed by Marxism and psychoanalytic theoryTrade Review'Cremin explores the relationship between theory and life with intelligence and wit' -- Juliet Jacques, author of Trans: A Memoir (Verso, 2016)'Laced with some occasional edginess, it is a wonderful book, erudite, politically astute, brilliantly written, and at times wickedly funny. It's my favourite I've read for quite some time' -- Jeff Hearn, Hanken School of Economics, Finland; University of Huddersfield, UK; author of Men of the WorldTable of ContentsAcknowledgements 1. What’s In A Dress? 2. On The Lavatory Question 3. The Aesthetic of Cross-Dressing 4. Everyone’s a Fetishist 5. How Popular Culture Made Me (a Woman) 6. Full Exposure Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisReimagines black and brown sensuality to develop new modes of knowledge productionIn Sensual Excess, Amber Jamilla Musser imagines epistemologies of sensuality that emerge from fleshiness. To do so, she works against the framing of black and brown bodies as sexualized, objectified, and abject, and offers multiple ways of thinking with and through sensation and aesthetics. Each chapter draws our attention to particular aspects of pornotropic capture that black and brown bodies must always negotiate. Though these technologies differ according to the nature of their encounters with white supremacy, together they add to our understanding of the ways that structures of domination produce violence and work to contain bodies and pleasures within certain legible parameters.To do so, Sensual Excess analyzes moments of brown jouissance that exceed these constraints. These ruptures illuminate multiple epistemologies of selfhood and sensuality that offer framewoTrade ReviewTending to a lush theoretical ground of brownness and being realized through the senses, Amber Musser’s Sensual Excess challenges the very dimensions of normative ways of reading and sensing minoritarian epistemologies…. Inviting empathy and embodiment to ways of knowing, the text pulses with both sentient and critical offerings from an archive of explicit body performances that center racialized and sexualized works of art. * Women & Performance *Seductive, urgent, and poetic, Sensual Excess is a vital contribution to psycho-analytic theory, critical race studies, and queer theory. Guided by the senses and therefore not inhibited by mastery, Musser still manages to astonish the reader with her dazzling theoretical dexterity, a model for the relentless engagement one must deploy in projects concerning flesh. * QED *In a feat of sheer poeticism, Sensual Excess offers readers a lucid consideration of various representational strategies employed by artists of color in order to rewrite the scripts positioned on their bodies. Mussers attunement to the sensesespecially taste, touch, and smelllend a particularly textured quality to the book, and aids in her brilliant construction of an expansive and juicy framework for pondering the rich versions of the self, and the other, as staged in brown feminine performance. -- Uri McMillan, author of Embodied Avatars: Geneaologies of Black Feminist Art and PerformanceThis book is a model for how to read, engage, think with, and celebrate black, brown, feminist, queer, and sex-centered art practices. Sensual Excess is a sustained argument for and celebration of the sensual politics of work by artists like Xandra Ibarra, Mickalene Thomas, Nao Bustamante, and Lyle Ashton Harris. Mussers writing centers on the performative space of the encounter with art objects and practicesblack and brown life unfolds not only in these artworks but around and through them. Mussers writing is distinguished by a devotion to the material detail of these works, to their vitality, to their philosophical intensities, to their ecstatic and transformative potential. -- Jennifer Doyle, author of Hold It Against Me: Difficulty and Emotion in Contemporary Art

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Book SynopsisShattering the popular myth that porn is harmless, the personal accounts of 25 brave women in He Chose Porn over Me reveal the real-life trauma experienced by women at the hands of their porn-consuming partners – men who were supposed to care for them. This confronting but necessary book dares to tell the truth about pornography’s destructive impact – about the men who habitually use it and the women and children who are mistreated and discarded as a result. The women in this book were collateral damage in their partner’s insatiable greed for porn. Their stories tell of the crushing of intimacy, respect, connection, love. Porn colonised their families, leaving women rejected and scarred. They were subjected to sexual terrorism in their own homes. The men, turbo-charged by pornography, were intoxicated by sexualised power. They didn’t care if they lost everything including their partners. In this haunting expose, pornography is rightfully situated as an insidious tool of violence against women. The contributors, now working to re-build their lives, found a confidante in Melinda Tankard Reist who supported them in the sharing of their experiences in these pages, and to warn other women – don’t date men who use porn …Trade Review"Occasionally a book comes along that changes the way we think about the world. "He Chose Porn Over Me" Women Harmed by Men Who Use Porn is such a book. Reading the stories of women whose partners chose porn is both heartbreaking and enraging, and can not be ignored. This book should light a fire under the anti-porn movement so we organize to rid the world of this misogynist, multi-billion- dollar predatory industry. Women deserve no less!" --Gail Dines PhD, Professor Emerita of Sociology, President: Culture Reframed "Thank goodness for this very much needed and extremely powerful book. The development of the porn industry has transformed the relations between the sexes. The advances women made have been severely undermined by the introduction of the rules of the brothel, contempt, misogyny, sexual abuse, to the lives and relationships of the women whose male partners are the consumers. We hear a lot about the poor men who are sex addicted or find their lives negatively affected. But of the women who suffer, almost nothing until this powerful expose. Porn use needs to be understood as a serious aspect of men's violence against women in the home. Not only are women's relationships and sex lives destroyed, but they are also made responsible for trying to change the men. They are the ones who have to find counsellors for partners who have no interest in change. They have to nag and cajole until the abuse is too much and they must leave. Then they may lose custody of their children, their homes, and face poverty. This book will do a great service of warning women and helping them decide to leave. I hope it will spur the feminist campaigns for the abolition of pornography too!" --Sheila Jeffreys, author of Penile Imperialism: The Male Sex Right and Women's Subordination and Trigger Warning: My Lesbian Feminist Life "To read "He Chose Porn Over Me" is a heartbreaking roller-coaster. The testimonies are diverse, but the message is the same: when men use porn, women and children suffer. The bravery and clarity these women offer on the real impact of pornography on relationships, families, sexual intimacy, physical safety and emotional connection, is groundbreaking. Melinda's thorough and astute research and commentary demonstrates that we urgently need to view porn as the pervasive and destructive weapon it is, and work together to teach our children about safe, respectful and loving sexuality." --Anna McGahan, actor and playwright "It's impossible to count the number of victims produced by the allegedly 'victimless' activities in the sexual-exploitation industries. "He Chose Porn Over Me" documents the incredible pain and suffering - psychological and often physical - of women whose partners are compulsive pornography users. The stories collected by Melinda Tankard Reist are heart-breaking, both for the women who endured the abuse and for readers willing to look honestly at men's controlling and corrosive behaviour. But these stories also remind us of how women's courage and resilience provide a way out of abusive relationships." --Robert Jensen, emeritus professor, University of Texas at Austin, author of The End of Patriarchy: Radical Feminism for Men "In "He Chose Porn Over Me" Melinda Tankard Reist has pulled back the curtain on the too-often secret and misunderstood lives of the partners who are impacted by men's porn use. She gives voice to these women who have had their hearts broken, trust shattered and lives turned upside down, enabling them to tell the stories they have kept silent about for so long. This book is an important documentation of the real relational and emotional harm caused to so many by compulsive sexual behaviours by men. I applaud Melinda and all the brave women who shared their stories." --Paul Lavergne, Psychotherapist, Sexual Recovery Therapist, Educator, Trainer, and Creator of The Damage Control ProtocolTable of ContentsIntroduction - Melinda Tankard Reist He chose porn over me. - Courtney CatEarth He used me like a blow-up doll. Florence The pornography warped his mind. He believed all women wanted to have sex with him. - Sarah I left my first husband because of porn. My second husband promised he didnt use it. He lied. - Catherine They looked like his students. - Ceratonia How can he say he loves me if he finds the women in porn more attractive? - Amalia I longed for intimacy, but he could not have sex without imagining that I was a prostitute. - Annie I lost touch with my integrity, I lost my bearings. - Sharni I was being groomed to become a porn star in the bedroom. - Maggie If you stay ... a glimpse into your future if you marry a porn addict. - Sarah McDugal Youve burned down my house and everything in it. - Ginger He tried to kill me. - Moriah Porn, sex chat rooms, nude beaches ... but I was blamed for the end of our marriage. - Maya The compromise to my integrity and my value as a woman felt too great to continue this life with him. - Carla I am a broken woman ... I guess hes happy enough with his digital girls. - Evelyn I was disturbed that I was in a relationship with someone who enjoyed getting off on abuse and hatred of women. - Gemma I knew in my heart that staying would be a slow, agonising death. - Serena I felt blackmailed into sex to keep a stable home for my children. I saw myself as a prostitute. - Lucy He expected me to be up for sex at any time. - Rivka Blood rushed to my face, my body went cold: I found multiple searches for teen porn. - Angie I had always taught my kids about stranger danger, but I had a monster in our home. - Maree I was told it was my fault. Somehow he became the victim. - Kate He told me I was being unreasonable, that all men watch porn, and that all men masturbate - Renee Run like your house is on fire. - Melissa He expected me to be available for him, even if I was sick, tired, had my period, recovering from surgery or having a baby. - Tash Glossary Resources

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Book SynopsisExplores Vietnam's sex industry as the country ascends the global and regional stage. This book looks at both the sex workers and their clients to show how Vietnamese high finance and benevolent giving are connected to the intimate spheres of the informal economy.Trade Review"The topic of Dealing in Desire is arresting and the book is destined to gain a wide readership. Furthermore, not only is the fieldwork impressive, but the arguments are provocative and well substantiated." -- Erik Harms Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review "A valuable contribution to our understanding of the sex industry ... The praise that Hoang's research has received is well deserved, and Dealing in Desire is a must-read." -- Jack David Eller Anthropology Review Database "This book is ethnographically rich and is an intriguing and gripping read." American Journal of SociologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Dealing in Desire 1. Sex Work in HCMC, 1867--Present 2. The Contemporary Sex Industry 3. New Hierarchies of Global Men 4. Entrepreneurial Mommies 5. Autonomy and Consent in Sex Work 6. Constructing Desirable Bodies 7. Sex Workers' Economic Trajectories Conclusion: Faltering Ascent Appendix: The Empirical Puzzle and the Embodied Cost of Ethnography Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisIt's the kind of book that makes you wonder, why wasn't this written before?' It could change lives' EVENING STANDARDTurns everything you've been taught about sex on its head' RUBY RAREWhat lies are we told when it comes to sex?What impossible expectations pollute our health, our happiness and our access to fundamental human rights?Bringing together deep research with intimate, real stories from women who pay thousands for hymen reconstruction to men who fear their inexperience defines them this is a revitalisation of sex education for the twenty-first century.Trade Review‘I can’t tell you how much I needed a book like this growing up’KATE LISTER, TELEGRAPH, FOUR STARS ‘It’s the kind of book that makes you wonder, ‘why wasn’t this written before?’ It could change lives’EVENING STANDARD ‘More of us are having open conversations about consent and pleasure. Losing It is a valuable part of that conversation’THE TIMES ‘Urgent, myth-busting’REFINERY 29 ‘Optimistic … Smith Galer is at her best when writing about the global picture, and she includes some fascinating interviews with women from across the world’NEW STATESMAN ‘Many books claim to be myth-busting, but this terrific debut truly is … Essential reading for anyone whose sex education and formative sexual experiences were distinctly lacking. Most of us, in other words.’ THE BOOKSELLER ‘EDITOR’S CHOICE’ ‘A stunning debut … Not only a call to arms, but a forceful affirmation of what we owe to one another – good sex and healthy relationships’FERN RIDELL ‘Compassionate, vibrant, deftly argued … Smith Galer’s rigorously researched book is an urgently needed, unputdownable joy – and a triumph’ELINOR CLEGHORN ‘Turns everything you’ve been taught about sex on its head’RUBY RARE ‘Compelling, informative, compassionate: Sophia has done an incredible job tackling the myths and stories our society tell around sex – I wish I’d had this book to read a decade ago!’YASSMIN ABDEL-MAGIED ‘Sophia Smith Galer is one of the UK’s most impressive young journalists, and here’s further proof of her talents… A compelling book, full of persuasive, punchy prose’GREG JENNER ‘A daring and eloquently written book … With statistics to smash our warped view of topics such as virginity and consent, this is a must read’PATSY STEVENSON ‘With compassion, intelligence, and engrossing storytelling … It is essential and empowering reading’DAVID ROBSON

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