Description

Book Synopsis

Insanely readable! I loved it' Slavoj Žižek

A delightfully thought-provoking study of why we have sex, from award-winning psychoanalyst Darian Leader

It was just sex'
It's a familiar claim. But it's also an impossibility, as Darian Leader shows in this delightfully thought-provoking study.
Our bodies aren't just sticks that make fire when you rub them together, and our minds don't simply stand by as we can see from the pain, heartache and regret that so often accompany the highs of sexual excitement.
As acclaimed psychoanalyst Darian Leader argues, with his trademark clarity, energy and wit, sex is always about so much more than itself it's about phantasy, anxiety, guilt, revenge, violence, love. Drawing on his long analytic experience, historical research and case studies to explore their importance to every aspect of our sexual lives, Leader brilliantly reveals what we are really thinking about when we think about sex and what we are really doing when we do it.

''A thoroughly engaging and ever-illuminating read'' iNews

''One of our most important contemporary thinkers'' Guardian

''Leader is as much a philosopher as a psychoanalyst and his ideas are engrossing and enlightening'' Metro

Is It Ever Just Sex

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    A Paperback by Darian Leader

    £10.44

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    RRP £10.99 – you save £0.55 (5%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Mon 7 Sep 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Penguin Random House Group
      Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
      Published 11 July 2024
      ISBN-13 9780241998168
      978-0241998168
      ISBN-10 0241998166
      Also in:
      Non Fiction Politics, Philosophy & Society Society and culture: general

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Insanely readable! I loved it' Slavoj Žižek

      A delightfully thought-provoking study of why we have sex, from award-winning psychoanalyst Darian Leader

      It was just sex'
      It's a familiar claim. But it's also an impossibility, as Darian Leader shows in this delightfully thought-provoking study.
      Our bodies aren't just sticks that make fire when you rub them together, and our minds don't simply stand by as we can see from the pain, heartache and regret that so often accompany the highs of sexual excitement.
      As acclaimed psychoanalyst Darian Leader argues, with his trademark clarity, energy and wit, sex is always about so much more than itself it's about phantasy, anxiety, guilt, revenge, violence, love. Drawing on his long analytic experience, historical research and case studies to explore their importance to every aspect of our sexual lives, Leader brilliantly reveals what we are really thinking about when we think about sex and what we are really doing when we do it.

      ''A thoroughly engaging and ever-illuminating read'' iNews

      ''One of our most important contemporary thinkers'' Guardian

      ''Leader is as much a philosopher as a psychoanalyst and his ideas are engrossing and enlightening'' Metro

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