Christine Emba argues against modern sexual ethics. Our culture of casual, selfish sex leaves people (especially women) unfulfilled, but refusing to embrace this ethos makes you countercultural and can lose you friends and esteem -- it's a double bind.

I wanted this book to be so much more than it was, and at the same time, I can't quite articulate what I wanted from it. I suppose I am positively disposed to the premise that a society that demands everyone embrace casual sex is just as stifling as a society that demands everyone embrace immediate marriage and monogamy, but this book offers very few prescriptions on how to get to a society that truly enables self-determination. (And, given the particular positioning of this young black ex-evangelical-turned-Catholic in the identity wars, I'm not even sure she'd agree with my urge to embrace both poles of sexual engagement.)

I expect this book would be most useful to the folks who are least likely to give it a fair shake. Perhaps it will find its highest purpose within a course reader for undergraduate sexuality and gender studies classes. ( )