The Edge of the Bed : How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life [Hardcover]

Lisa Palac (Author), Susie Bright (Contributor)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the early '90s, after a stint as a senior editor at the groundbreaking lesbian sex journal On Our Backs, Lisa Palac took charge of a new magazine called Future Sex. Tapping into the "cyber" ethos that permeated the Bay Area scene--Mondo 2000 was in its ascendancy, while Wired was still a full year away--the magazine achieved a quick burst of mainstream notoriety and became a longterm underground icon. But you won't need to don a full-body cybersex interface to appreciate Palac's The Edge of the Bed.

With disarming honesty and self-deprecating humor, Palac writes about how she began to gain control of her sexuality. When she found a boyfriend's stash of pornography, her kneejerk reaction was to tell him that if it didn't go, she would. He managed to convince her to watch a video with her; that led to another, and another...soon, Palac was renting her own tapes and started writing her own erotic stories.

Although sex-positive feminism can be a powerfully liberating philosophy, Palac does not sugarcoat the hardships. Not every sexual encounter was wonderful; sometimes there wasn't even any sex. ("I was a perfect candidate for cybersex," she drolly comments at one point. "I wasn't getting laid, I liked to masturbate, and I could type.") But the story of Palac's spiritual and physical awakening and her efforts to maintain honesty and integrity will continue to inspire long after they've finished titillating--and that's a mighty long time.

From Kirkus Reviews

A clear-headed look at some of the most explosive sexual issues of our daypornography, cybersex, freedom of sexual expression, marriagethrough an autobiographical lens. Palac, like her close friend and mentor Susie Bright, has been one of the foremost pop critics of the American sexual landscapeand of repressive tendencies in feminism. This book, part autobiography, part cultural analysis, shows off her lively writing and wacky sensibility. She describes her introduction to vibrators (she was cleaning out a closet, and one fell on her head; later she used it to masturbate to orgasm for the first time); her sexually repressive childhood (Catholic, though she's careful not to make too much of this too-worn theme); the boyfriend who introduced her to the joys of pornography (despite her hard-core feminist opposition); her quest to create erotic material that reflects women's desiresas a fiction writer, editor of the lesbian sex magazine On Our Backs, and founding editor of Future Sex magazine, a weirdly technologically oriented porn magazine; and her own adventures in S/M, E-mail and phone sex, love, and weddings (first as minister, then as bride). The author's story concludes with her marrying the man she loves, and she unfortunately ends up by too easily brushing off issues she's courageously raised (notably, how does someone raised to believe in sin, and in salvation through suffering come to grips with eros) simply because she herself has resolved them. And though the book is engaging throughout, it isn't focused enough to be a memoir, and, at only 34, Palac hasn't lived long enough to write a really satisfying autobiography. It would have made more sense to organize her material by topic rather than by the chronology of her life Still, Palac's approach to sexual politics and to her own life is infectiously spirited. (8 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (September 9, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316688495
• ISBN-13: 978-0316688499
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #494,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome Voice on Sex and Who We Are, January 23, 2001

By	J. Lyda (Raleigh, North Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Edge of the Bed : How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book. Palac's approach to what can be such a loaded subject is playful and light. Her core idea is that each of our sexual identities is unique, and that we have a right, almost an obligation, to honor and explore it. She is tolerant of diversity, but at the same time she pulls no punches in condemning those who would belittle and shame us for our natural drives. Palac is/was a Roman Catholic, as am I, and her chapter on the role of the Church in robbing her of her sexual identity is very compelling. The idea that pornography can be healthy, and that women have a right to enjoy it, is an idea whose time has come. I give this book 5 stars because it is a welcome look at an aspect of our lives which is frequently stunted and shrouded with shame. Palac has opened a window letting in fresh air.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic book that is guaranteed to resonate with you., August 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Edge of the Bed : How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life (Hardcover)

Lisa Palac has produced an incredibly honest portrayal of life. Though she is likely more well-known than most of us, her stories sound like they could be anyone's, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, sexual experiences, upbringing, religious beliefs, and whatever else you've got. Everyone has experiened a struggle between what they desire and what they feel is right for them to desire, and she tells of this struggle beatifully and without compromise. EVERYONE should read this.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A life worth reading, November 16, 2001

By	Todd Meigs (Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Edge of the Bed : How Dirty Pictures Changed My Life (Hardcover)

In February of 1994, I, along with many other horny college students around the nation, was fascinated by an Esquire article documenting "feminists who don't hate sex!" Lisa Palac had one of the more memorable lines as she attempted to describe the appeal of S/M; she called for her men to "degrade me when I ask you to." Obviously, this was not your average pundit, a fact emphasized by her résumé: co-founder of Future Sex magazine, producer of the Cyborgasm CD series and now author of an excellent memoir, The Edge of the Bed. Palac relates her upbringing, revisiting her Catholic childhood, her parents' loveless marriage and her subsequent attempts at establishing romantic relationships in the stormy sexual climate of San Francisco with an energetically bouncing prose and a self-deprecating gift for the dramatic. Along the way, she finds time to state her views on pornography, cybersex and sexual honesty, drawing you into her life with a magnetic charisma. She writes with a uniquely modern voice, one capable of tackling thorny issues with intelligence, irreverence and a quick wit. Hers is a life worth reading, and, with only 35 years behind her, there should be plenty more to come.