Customer Reviews

Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Real Live Nude Girl was recommended to me several times before I picked it up. Knowing something about Carol Queen, her politics and the areas in which she works, I expected to be frightened more than engaged by the book. Boy, was I wrong! I'm glad I finally read it after all. Carol Queen's intelligence, humor, and insight make subjects that can be overwhelming come across instead as engaging and challenging. I was left knowing more, wondering more, and fearing less. So don't hesitate to give it a spin even if it sounds at first like a bit much.

[I wrote this review three years ago. It used to have my name on it, but that somehow got lost a couple of years ago. I'd like to reclaim my review.-gvr]

Carol Queen is (or has been) a sexologist, a bisexual, a peep show stripper, a whore, and a damn good writer. I had read some of her erotica and eagerly snapped up this collection of essays.

She covers prostitution, pornography, censorship, sex work, sex education, bisexuality, exhibitionism, Madonna's _Sex_, safe sex, S/M, and much, more more. She's clear, she's incisive, she's sage, and she's almost frighteningly dead-on. You may not agree with everything she says, but she'll make you think. Especially recommended to fans of Susie Bright.

Queen's book is a very bold discussion of our culturally defined notions of the place of sex and sexuality, for both women and men. Her writing challenges many long-held feminist notions of "deviant" sexual practices as supporitng the suppression and devaluation of women. Instead, Queen shows through her own personal trials and errors with sex, that women can control, guide and determine their own sexuality through myriad experiences, even those deemed "deviant" by more repressed social factions. While Queen mentions the existence of violence in the sex industry, I feel she too easily dismisses the prevelance of such. True, many women such as herself choose their own path as sex workers, but many do not. More could be said as to how to make "politically correct" choices in the use of sex products/services to support those who choose to participate, as opposed to supporting those who force participation. Queen's experience as an author of erotica is evident in this writing. Interestingly enough, this may begin to cause the reader to question just how much they are in tune with their own sexuality, when after completing a narrative passage, the reader suddenly wonders, "Wow, did that just turn me on?" Of course, you have to not be afraid to read it first. Enjoy.

Seriously, this is an excellent book. Carol Queen is one of the grand dames of sex-positivity. Much (okay, all) of the book is autobiographical, and Queen uses her own experiences to further her ideas about radical sexuality. Ms. Queen is or has been all of the things other reviewers mentioned, and has also received a PhD from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) -- in other words, she knows her stuff. Though some of her prose is light, the stories of Queen's life are fascinating, and the theories she puts forth and hypotheses she posits are valid. I've read Real Live Nude Girl (which are, incidentally, the section titles) several times and almost always quote from it in my own essays about radical sexuality. Fun AND smart.

Real Live Nude Girl is quite simply one of the best books ever written on the human experience. Carol Queen is an intelligent, witty, and powerful writer whose experience in the sexual fringes of our society constitutes a great storehouse of wisdom. She has been a sex worker in areas that range from the peep show booths to training gynecologists how to give an intelligent and sensitive pelvic exam to speaking at men's gatherings.

Her approach is straghtforward and honest. She doesn't pull any punches or mince words. She also does not subscribe to the dogma of any "isms," and is genuinely concerned with the rights of all people to explore and experience their lives and sexuality in an atmosphere of open acceptance and even celebration. She is sex-positive and proud of it.

The book is divided into chapters dealing with different experiences and ideas, such as experiencing different sexual lifestyles, talking with others about your sexuality, being an exhibitionist, sex work, pornography, politics, and so on. Some of the chapter titles are:

Don't Fence Me In

Bisexual Perverts among the Leather Lesbians

Safe Words and Safe Sex

Pornography and the Sensitive New Age Guy

Healing and Holy Acts: Sacred Whoredom

She deals with sensitive and controversial issues very well, and her writing is easy and pleasurable to follow. She discusses the history of sexual repression in a variety of ways, using her experiences as points of reference. For example, she uses being onstage with Annie Sprinkle to discuss some of the history of sacred sexuality and why some religions have such a morbid fear of sex.

There is so much in this book that is so good, I could go on and on. There are six pages of bibliography for further reading, as well as all the people and books mentioned in the text.

If you only read one book ever on sex, culture, religion, and human experience, this should be it.

Carol Queen is (or has been) a sexologist, a bisexual, a peep show stripper, a whore, and a damn good writer. I had read some of her erotica and eagerly snapped up this collection of essays.

She covers prostitution, pornography, censorship, sex work, sex education, bisexuality, exhibitionism, Madonna's _Sex_, safe sex, S/M, and much, more more. She's clear, she's incisive, she's sage, and she's almost frighteningly dead-on. You may not agree with everything she says, but she'll make you think. Especially recommended to fans of Susie Bright

Carol Queen is (or has been) a sexologist, a bisexual, a peep showstripper, a whore, and a damn good writer. I had read some of hererotica and eagerly snapped up this collection of essays.

She covers prostitution, pornography, censorship, sex work, sex education, bisexuality, exhibitionism, Madonna's _Sex_, safe sex, S/M, and much, more more. She's clear, she's incisive, she's sage, and she's almost frighteningly dead-on. You may not agree with everything she says, but she'll make you think. Especially recommended to fans of Susie Bright.

Queen's book is an excellent overview of the complexities of our sexualities. Not all of the topics explored in the essays pertained to me personally, but I learned alot about the desires that other people have. It is one of those rare books that causes one to do alot of reflection and thinking about one's life. It's also important in that it acknowledges the polical component of our our sexual lives

Spurred on by recommendations at Amazon, I purchased Carol Queen's book. Ms. Queen sees herself as a sex priestess if not goddess and frankly I'm prepared to give her such a title - sight unseen. To say her experience is vast and varied seems an understatement. I'm so happy to hear from a bona fide "sex positive" that I really enjoyed this book.
I was reading at furious clip and ran into page 84 like it was a stone wall. Ms. Queen repeats the horrible comparison made between circumsion and the erroneously named genital mutilation called "female circumsion". She dismisses the scientific reasons for circumsion as "late breaking theories" and then substitutes the PC-of-the-moment anti-male screed that this is what is what went wrong with so many men. She apparently had never heard that some adult men get circumcised just to improve their sex lifes. Frankly, if a procedure with the same pain and risks would have led to a 10% reduction in tooth decay, I would hope that my parents would go for it.
I have to admit the best parts of this book are when she goes squarely after the MacDworkinites (she doesn't use that word but you know who I mean). She has no problem standing up to those who would rather she kept to a more doctrinaire line. At one point she decides to try prostitution and some former friends refer to speak to her. No matter, this is a very independent woman. I wish I met more like her.
One minor point, this book is a collection of essays that were previously published and that means she sometimes repeats herself (yes, I know you have a Ph.D. in Sexuality) and any chronology is pretty well lost.

The author explores beliefs and perceptions most of us never question, and in doing so makes a clear and logical argument for a kind of sexual equality we have yet to contemplate as a society. A must-read for anyone who thinks of themselves as open-minded and sex positive.