4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An adventure in living, June 6, 2010
This review is from: My Romantic Love Wars (Kindle Edition)
This is an incredibly honest accounting of Betty's challenge to prudish attitudes towards sex that may well underlie so much of what ails society. Hypocrisy in regard to experiencing pleasure is one of the hallmarks of our struggling civilization. Where would the controls of the patriarchal churches of the world be if everyone were free to enjoy their own lives and their own bodies? Betty confronts the hypocrisy that surrounds our attitudes toward sex head-on and in so doing has liberated countless women as she guided them to discover pleasure for them selves. Above all, she dared explore in directions that will not be for all of us but which nevertheless defined her journey into self-awareness. Her story is not for prudes but neither is it pornographic. This is the story of an enormously courageous woman who ventured into the hidden world of sensuality and here she shares her doubts and fears and her joys and successes.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Refreshing View of Feminism and the Sexual Revolution, October 3, 2010
This review is from: My Romantic Love Wars (Kindle Edition)
The erotic scenes in Betty Dodson's life story, although sexy as hell, end up as interesting asides, the popcorn and candy during the show, as I became immersed in the recent history of feminism and the sexual revolution from the perspective and experiences of a mature woman, already past her fortieth year in the 1970s, who was completely comfortable in her sexuality. This is the gift her story provides. For those of us too young to have experienced the height sexism, and the complete denial of our sexuality, Betty Dodson becomes a time traveling spy writing today to help us remember how far we have come, and the work left to do.
This book documents the making of a woman whose brand of feminism is hyper-focused on the individual woman's view of herself, and love for herself, as expressed through her sexuality, with masturbation as a base. Betty's story highlighted for me how the thrust of the vast majority of feminism was, and maybe still is, external to us as individuals. Feminism sometimes seems only about what our place as a group is in the power structure, or which political party we support. But without a strong personal sense of our individual power, we are weakened. Though Betty's life story, we may start to question whether the typically feminist icons can claim to have liberated us if we still aren't accepted as fully sexual beings. What if feminism had done things in reverse and insisted on equal sexual rights first?
The path Betty took, and wants us to widen, is the one that so many big named feminist didn't want to follow because it was so less traveled as to make it only enticing for the truly tough explorers, like Dr. Dodson. Read about her "Split Beaver Slide Show" and you might just agree.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Dodson Does Dallas....and NYC and......, February 16, 2012
This review is from: My Romantic Love Wars (Kindle Edition)
Betty Dodson's "My Romanic Love Wars" is a rare memoir, the most unflinching account of a person's sexual history since "My Life and Loves" by Frank Harris, published ninety years ago. But this time it's a woman writing and, oh, the difference. Dodson and Harris both had a very active background in the arts. Harris was a famous writer and literary magazine editor in his generation; Dodson is a NYC sexual revolutionary in painting, photography, writing, education, and erotic performance.
Harris scandalized many in the literary world and his book was censored by right thinking bureaucrats for decades. Today's crowd is harder to shock, but there is something in Dodson's book, some very detailed experiences, that will push even the most the open-minded reader to his or her limit. Betty has very personally investigated every avenue of female sexual expression -- and she tells you all about it.
Dodson gives new definition and depth to the word "honest". Her book is a unapologetic memoir of her continuing sexual evolution during her 80 plus years. She was born and raised in Kansas and has never lost her midwest brashness, even as she infiltrated New York City's incestuous art world. Increasingly she became the sexual rebel in her art and life, and she has remained the most outspoken and refreshing woman for the last several generations.
What do we do with this woman? Many will dismiss her as a compulsive sex addict, others will do what they've always done and simple ignore her. But neither attitude works. She dared to advertise the word "Masturbation" and then published a popular underground book advocating and demonstrating the art of self loving. As uncomfortable as it may be for some, Dodson personally plumbs the depths (and polishes the surfaces) of every human sexual expression imaginable. Betty has done it all. Repeatedly.
(Disclosure: Betty and I have crossed paths often since the early 70s and I've been the beneficiary of her talents)
Like her art, her writing style can be beautifully frank and and confronting. At times in her life she was a hard boiled chick attempting to economically make it in New York's tough and puzzling art scene. But she's also a born comedian and her stories are filled with ironic humor and great punch lines. Often in the book she is genuinely vulnerable and affectionate, especially in the role of a very loyal daughter to her amazing mother. Always however she is an extreme realist in her sexual encounters with women and men -- and with herself;
Dodson is a woman of strong opinions, sometimes hardened ones. But her sweet humor softens continuously. She never spares herself. She will take a position at one moment in her life and in the next chapter will admit that she was wrong and move on with renewed enthusiasm. Her entire life has been a process of cutting away the dense cultural thickets that defined women's sexual roles. Each detailed sexual anecdote -- almost all describing a phase in her outrageously adventurous sexual journey -- tells of the confusion, the pain, but mostly the pure joy and dedication in her mission and her life.
Read the book and be prepared for a shock of recognition. You'll discover yourself somewhere in the pages. Beck Peacock
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