Tomorrow Sex will be Good again - Women and Desire in the Age of Consent
Tomorrow Sex will be Good again - Women and Desire in the Age of Consent
Katherine Angel
Verso Books
2021
9781788739160Hardcover
20.7 x 17.2 x 1.5
160 pages
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Women are in a bind. In the name of consent and empowerment, they must proclaim their desires clearly and confidently. Yet sex researchers suggest that women’s desire is often slow to emerge. And men are keen to insist that they know what women—and their bodies—want. Meanwhile, sexual violence abounds. How can women, in this environment, possibly know what they want? And why do we expect them to?
In this elegant, searching book—spanning science and popular culture; pornography and literature; debates on Me-Too, consent and feminism—Katherine Angel challenges our assumptions about women’s desire. Why, she asks, should they be expected to know their desires? And how do we take sexual violence seriously, when not knowing what we want is key to both eroticism and personhood?
In today’s crucial moment of renewed attention to violence and power, Angel urges that we remake our thinking about sex, pleasure, and autonomy without any illusions about perfect self-knowledge. Only then will we fulfil Michel Foucault’s teasing promise, in 1976, that “tomorrow sex will be good again.”
Katherine Angel is the author of Unmastered, Most Difficult to Tell and Daddy Issues. She directs the MA in Creative and Critical Writing at Birkbeck, University of London, and has a PhD from the University of Cambridge.
Reviews
“An ardent, rigorous, nuanced investigation into the question of consent, at once illuminating and empowering. A truly vital guide to navigating the difficult waters of 21st century desire.”
“Thought-provoking … [Angel’s] jargon-free prose and nuanced readings of popular culture and postmodern theory enlighten. Readers will value this lively and incisive inquiry into the sexual dynamics of the #MeToo era.”
“One of our most daring, exciting and nuanced writers on the complexities of female desire, pleasure, autonomy and imagination.”
“A provocative counterargument to recent feminist dogma … Angel raises intriguing questions about commonly accepted assumptions, and she offers reassurance to female readers.”
“[Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again] takes a taboo topic and removes the stigma by providing facts. Its titular refrain advocates for a better tomorrow.”
“[Angel] writes about complex questions with such clarity and elegance, and amid all the polarised spats that currently pass for considered debate, her work is a breath of fresh air. [Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again] is a provocative but clear-sighted analysis of female sexuality in the wake of #MeToo … I’d urge anyone who cares about sexual ethics to read it.”
“Excellent.”
“[A] bible of modern sexuality and consent that all men and women should be reading.”
“She is reaching towards something else: a world where desire does not have to be known and fixed in advance to protect people from violence.”
“Tenderly inflected and meticulously argued, Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again should be required reading.”
“A clear-eyed intervention in the crossfire of post-#MeToo sexual politics.”
“Voyeuristically fascinating … Angel dares to suggest that consent is not sexy … we should be aiming for something more complex.”
“Offers new ways of understanding the complexity of sexual relations … fresh and provoking.”
“Exquisite … A breathtaking, brilliant invitation not to turn away from complexity and vulnerability.”
“This nonfiction tour-de-force is a must-read for anyone interested in exploring themes of consent, power, sex, and the Me Too movement. This is the kind of book that seeks not to create dichotomous binaries, but to complicate the narrative.”
“Eloquent and lucid.”
“Succinct and thought-provoking.”
“Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again offers readers a blend of cultural criticism and provocative theory.”
“Intriguing, philosophical.”
“One of the smartest, most nuanced and thought-provoking books I’ve read about sex in the post-#MeToo era.”
“[Angel] is right—consent as a ‘yes’/‘no’ dichotomy cannot be everything we want it to be. We must recognise that language cannot say everything, especially for women, who have not historically been given the chance to shape it according to their own needs and desires.”
“Short but rich in ideas … [Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again] offers a thoughtful, nuanced articulation of the problems and issues we face surrounding sexual assault and bad sex, without rushing to a solution.”
“It should not be women’s responsibility to keep sex safe. Angel argues powerfully that sexual ethics not be reduced to hard and fast prescriptions about consent”
“[Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again is] a necessary contribution to the many conversations about sex and power we have all had since 2017, and Angel’s prose, clear and lovely, nimbly navigates the complexities of her subject matter.”
“A vital and groundbreaking work that brings nuance to a thorny subject.”
“Angel has dissected much of what there is to know about consent, desire, arousal and vulnerability: the four cornerstones of sexuality. Resisting definitive and simplistic conclusions, Angel has been wide-reaching in her research”
“[Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again] welcomes us to experience a twenty-first-century feminist version of Freud’s aporia.”
1.5 x 17.2 x 20.7 cm
