This intelligent, readable book reframes conventional ideas about how women experience sexual relationship. With a foreword by the authors of Our Bodies Ourselves and an afterword on sexual messages in the media, this edition is suited of college and graduate classes as well as a wider readership. Based on original research with women whose stories inform each chapter, it questions male-centered definitions of sexual desire and performance. It proposes a new sexual response cycle that includes nurturing and intimacy along with physical stimulation. It offers inside views of sex research and therapy. It calls for social change honoring women's right to sexual pleasure.