Lisa Taddeo

This book tells a sad story. Three women who are victims of sexual assault and/or sexual dominance tell their stories to the author. And those stories are graphic when it comes to sexual acts. What, to me, was so sad was that the men in the stories saw sex was the end goal; for the women, it was the means to fulfill a greater desire for love, belonging, validation. With this fundamental difference in "desire", which can exist even in non-abusive relationships, disappointment is almost inevitable.

The author is not a scientist; she is a journalist. This books presents three anecdotes, which do no add up to evidence. Those looking for socio-scientific facts will not find them here. But this book can teach us a lot in the way that fiction does: by getting closer to the truth of feelings, emotions and other less quantifiable data.

So I appreciate this book for what it is, and it did cause me to reflect on our society. The book might have been strengthened if the author had talked about the broader society into which these stories fall. I don't think she gave readers enough of a contextual frame to make these stories more than fictional stories would have provided.… (més)