Book discontinued
by Cleis Press Inc.

Positively Sex Positive

Carol Queen lives in a world where the only worries about sex should be "is it consensual," rather than worrying about whether it's normal to be a lesbian who likes to have sex with men, or a straight man who enjoys the occasional fling with another man. Real Live Nude Girl tackles misconceptions of sexuality and more.
Published:
Pros
Insightful essays that make you think and challenge your views on sexuality.
Cons
Some might find it difficult to sit and read all the way through?
Rating by reviewer:
5
extremely useful review

About author

Real Live Nude Girl is written by Carol Queen, who has also authored Exhibitionism for the Shy and The Leather Daddy and the Femme. She's been an activist since the mid 1970's and has not only worked as an AIDS educator, she also has a doctorate in sexology.

Content / Style / Audience

There are four main sections: Real, Live, Nude, and Girl, that are each made up of a selection of essays totaling 205 pages.

Real seems to focus strongly on sex positivity in just about every manner. Carol's journey into becoming a whore (in a letter she wrote to her mother after she had passed away), her embracing the fact that she loved sex, becoming a lesbian, and then embracing the fact that she also enjoyed sleeping with men as well. Bisexual Perverts Among The Leather Lesbians talks about how much she loves crossing lines, and how she had to reconstitute herself as a bisexual lesbian.

Live delves into exhibitionism, voyeurism, and her journey to being comfortable with it all. From Carol's days as a peep show girl to how she shed her 'shy' skin and started not only attending safe sex and jack-off parties, but also throwing them, meeting "the poster child of kink" Bob Flanagan and performing on stage with Annie Sprinkle.

Nude tells us how Carol gets desensitized to porn in her sexology class, and even "fucks" with Madonna, wondering if she'll be able to maintain her sexual edge as a parent and then goes on to talk about her feelings on Madonna's book "Sex". She tells us about safe words and safe sex and why she volunteers to let doctors practice pelvic examinations on her.

Girl praises going against the norm, with Carol telling us why she loves butch women and gracing us with her own tales from the sex shop. She explains to us why she loves being spanked and talks about being a female submissive and still being able to do what you damn well please.

No matter which section you choose to start with, every essay reads like an interesting lecture, for lack of a better word. Never at any point does Carol make you feel as though she's better than you in any manner because of all her exploits and self-discovery. Go ahead girls and boys, be boys and girls!

Design

Real Live Nude Girl looks like your basic paperback book. 8 1/2" by 5 1/2", about an inch or so thick with the same laminated cardstock cover you see on many paperback books. With extreme abuse such as living permanently in a bookbag or backseat of a car, it might not last very long. But under normal conditions, expect a long life span.

As far as how discreet it is, the front does say "RealLiveNudeGirl and Chronicles of Sex-Positive culture" and features a woman posed with her back to us and her legs spread for someone on the other side of the shot. If you're squeamish, get a cover, but otherwise it's not all that risque.
    • Small size

Experience

I had never read anything by Carol Queen before, let alone even heard of her. So when I first got this book, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I mean, I'm all about sex positivity and all, so this had to be a great book, right?

Well it's certainly not a bad book. Everything's really well written and nothing makes you feel as though she's trying to be better than you in any manner. I just had a hard time getting into the book at first, although this had much more to do with my ADD than the book itself. It was a really great read, and I found it all very interesting once I could sit myself down and make myself focus on just reading and nothing else. My fiance has flipped through a few of the essays as well and he's enjoyed everything he's read as well.
Follow-up commentary
Not liking it anymore is wrong for me to say, so I changed it to say I still like it, even though I passed this on to a friend. I got all I was going to out of it, and since I haven't picked it back up in the time that I've had it, it was going to do more good being passed around to others who would enjoy it as well.
This product was provided free of charge to the reviewer. This review is in compliance with the FTC guidelines.

EdenFantasys Review Program

  • Get Free Toys
  • Enjoy Special Deals
Become a Reviewer
Comments
Subscribe to comments
  • Contributor: Miss Cinnamon
    Sounds like a good read. Thanks for the review!
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    It definitely was, you should pick it up!
  • Contributor: gone77
    Excellent review, Jul!a! I've heard of Carol Queen before but have never read anything she's written. But now having read this, it's going on my wishlist. ;-)
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    Thanks Kristi, after reading this book I'm definitely interested in learning a bit more about Ms. Queen.
  • Contributor: Selective Sensualist
    I've never read anything by Carol Queen before either. Great review!
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    Thanks Selective Sensualist
  • Contributor: iceman681
    thanks for the review
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    Thanks for reading
  • Contributor: Viktor Vysheslav Malkin
    Very good review Jul!a
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    Thank you very much Viktor
  • Contributor: leatherlover
    Thanks for the review. Sounds interesting.
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    It was a really good read
  • Contributor: 7Miles
    This looks like an interesting book. Thanks for writing about it
  • Contributor: Jul!a
    Thanks for reading about it
Forum
No discussions yet.
Thank you for viewing Real Live Nude Girl – erotic fiction review page!