Real Live Nude Girl: Chronicles of Sex-Positive Culture

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 InBisexual Perverts among the Leather LesbiansSafe Words and Safe SexPornography and the Sensitive New Age GuyHealing and Holy Acts: Sacred WhoredomShe 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.

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.

[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.

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.

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