Sex outside the lines Authentic sexuality in a sexually dysfunctional culture

Chris Donaghue

Book - 2015

"Is Your Sex Life "Normal"? Boy meets girl. The connection is electric. They fall in love, marry and have amazing sex. Soon there are children, and then grandchildren. They grow old, loving one another for the rest of their lives. What's wrong with this picture? Absolutely nothing, if you are one of the relatively small group of people whose lives work out this way. What's wrong is that we've defined this as "normal," which makes most of us "abnormal." In Sex Outside the Lines, Dr. Chris Donaghue describes the holes in society's definition of "normal," taking a sharp eye to institutions such as marriage, cheating, virginity, identity, and sexual orientation. He also examines a...ll the ways that accepting society's "truths" have led to the demise of long-term relationships and sexual pleasure. All of this misinformation is showing up in your bedroom and preventing you from having the sex life you're entitled to. In Donaghue's years of training in sex and couples therapy, he has developed highly successful methods for freeing clients from sexual hang-ups, enabling them to let go of shame and embarrassment. Donaghue pulls apart cultural phobias with a "sex positive" therapy practice, a kind of sexual deprograming that helps people see and accept the desires they have-even if they don't align with societal expectations-are really natural, healthy, and part of having a great sex life. "--

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Subjects
Published
Dallas, Texas : BenBella Books, Inc [2015]
Language
English
Main Author
Chris Donaghue (-)
Physical Description
xii, 244 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781940363783
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1. Liberate Sex and Get Naked
  • Chapter 2. Why We're Scared of Sex
  • Chapter 3. Sex Education Is Dangerous
  • Chapter 4. The Damage of Psychology
  • Chapter 5. The Primacy of Sexual Compatibility
  • Chapter 6. The Fantasy of Marriage
  • Chapter 7. Relational Sex Crimes
  • Chapter 8. The Myth of Sexual Dysfunctions
  • Chapter 9. No Identity, Gender, or Sexual Orientation
  • Chapter 10. The Future of Sex and Relationships
  • Epilogue
  • Acknowledgments
  • About the Author
  • References
  • Index
Review by Library Journal Review

TV host (Bad Sex), sexologist, and sex therapist Donaghue challenges American's attitudes about sex. For Donaghue, there is a "sex hating narrative" that defines how we discuss sex, police "normal" sex through medical and therapeutic practices, perpetuate limited and forced constructions on relationships, and enforce gender conformity or binary conceptions for one's biological sex; instead, consensual sex is the acceptable boundary, anything further is sex negative. This provides a welcome positive perspective on sexual behaviors. However, the author raises important questions that are never clearly addressed, some of this owing to his postmodernist bent. For example, he deemphasizes the possible physiological causes to sexual dysfunctions in order to criticize the medical and therapeutic communities' sexual normativity judgements about those conditions-this criticism is valid. What isn't made apparent is what role physiology plays in sexual dysfunction and what part scientific discourse has in informing us about sexuality overall. VERDICT Donaghue provides an alternative and pragmatic discourse for sexuality that diverges from the anxieties and hypocrisies surrounding sex in our culture. Highly recommended to all readers interested in sexuality.-Scott Vieira, Rice Univ. Lib., Houston © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.