Slutting it up

I just finished reading the book Slutever by Karley Sciortino.  The tagline is "dispatches from a sexually autonomous woman in a post shame world", and that mostly gives you a sense of what the author is trying to do.  The book is a combination of two things:  First, a rambling story of all kinds of weird and interesting sex stuff that Sciortino got up to over many years of promiscuity ranging from drug fuelled orgies to sex work to BDSM.  The other thing is a well informed discussion of sex and feminist related issues touching on all sorts of topics including sex work, slut shaming, and kink.

This mash of types works really well.  The author makes it clear that her stories are meant to be more like cautionary tales rather than examples of good behaviour, and then links all of the mistakes she made to things she wants to change in the world.  As Sciortino goes through all of her struggles and travails she slowly learns how the world works, how her own brain works, and how our society could better handle sex and sexuality especially when it comes to women's sexuality.

I really like Sciortino's take on the issues.  She communicates easily and clearly while making the process fun for the reader.  Her brand of sex positive feminism is one I like, and I appreciate someone who can talk about complex topics without gumming up her prose with excessive jargon or convoluted writing.

For someone like me who has read a lot on this topic there wasn't anything new to learn really.  The political stuff all was right up my alley but this book is more aimed at the mainstream audience in terms of the teaching portion.  I agreed with it, but I didn't come away any more informed about sexual politics or cultural sexual issues.  I enjoyed the stories and the read was fun, but it was aimed at people who know less than I do about the topic.

That isn't a criticism, just a note!  I think the book does a great job at what it is trying to do, which is to educate normal people about feminism and sex.  It isn't trying to be a scholarly piece, informing the elite about something entirely new, and it lands exactly where it is trying to.

So if you enjoy stories about wild and unexpected debauchery, or if you think reading a feminist take on sexual politics would be informative, then go for it.  The book is super easy to read, quick, and on point.

If everyone read Slutever I suspect it would help change attitudes in a positive way, and it manages that while being fun.  Two thumbs up.