Description

Women are in a bind. In the name of consent and empowerment, they must proclaim their desires clearly and confidently. Yet sex researchers suggest that women’s desire is often slow to emerge. And men are keen to insist that they know what women-and their bodies-want. Meanwhile, sexual violence abounds. How can women, in this environment, possibly know what they want? And why do we expect them to?

In this elegant, searching book-spanning science and popular culture; pornography and literature; debates on Me-Too, consent and feminism-Katherine Angel challenges our assumptions about women’s desire. Why, she asks, should they be expected to know their desires? And how do we take sexual violence seriously, when not knowing what we want is key to both eroticism and personhood?

In today’s crucial moment of renewed attention to violence and power, Angel urges that we remake our thinking about sex, pleasure, and autonomy without any illusions about perfect self-knowledge. Only then will we fulfil Michel Foucault’s teasing promise, in 1976, that ‘tomorrow sex will be good again’

Publisher Review

"Thought-provoking ... [Angel's] jargon-free prose and nuanced readings of popular culture and postmodern theory enlighten. Readers will value this lively and incisive inquiry into the sexual dynamics of the #MeToo era." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) "An ardent, rigorous, nuanced investigation into the question of consent, at once illuminating and empowering. A truly vital guide to navigating the difficult waters of 21st century desire." -Olivia Laing, author of Funny Weather Praise for Unmastered by Katherine Angel "A genre-busting nonfiction account that reads like poetry, revels in ambiguity, and intentionally defies definition, the book explores the slippery emotions of sex in fiery, collage-like scenes intended to reconcile the contradictory 'metaphors we love by.'" O Magazine "Unconventional, deeply personal ... often poetic." The New Yorker Page Turner blog "Angel embraces the impossibility of extricating fact from feeling." Julia Klein, The Boston Globe "Poetic ... Sharply truthful, musical, and beautifully patterned ... An act of cultural resistance, and a book you immediately start to reread." Adam Foulds, author of The Quickening Maze "Absorbing . . . [A] vigorous testament to a female libido undaunted by the cold shower of self-analysis." Talitha Stevenson, The Guardian "Ghostly and poetic . . . [A] thinking woman's meditation on sexual desire." Publishers Weekly "Unmastered is an intriguing literary and cultural study . . . Erudite and personal . . . The strength of Ms. Angel's writing . . . makes the book seem both universal and intimate at once." The Economist "Unmastered is a giddily joyful book . . . Days after reading, its images linger in the mind . . . [An] elegant and uplifting journey through the labyrinth of female lust." Olivia Laing, The Observer