Self Love
Essays
Join Liz Goldwyn—author, filmmaker, and host of the hit podcast The Sex Ed—on her new book, Sex, Health, and Consciousness.
Liz Goldwyn leads a guided interactive meditation.
Natassia Dreams is an iconic adult performer and high fashion model. Here, she speaks with The Sex Ed about succeeding professionally as a trans woman of color in both the fashion and adult worlds; her recent gender confirmation surgery; directing porn; advice for those who may be struggling with their identity; and much more.
For our Be Here Now series, we asked yoga & breath-work instructor Tyia Wilson to create short instructional breath-work, sound and movement videos to help feel a sense of calm.
For our Be Here Now series, we asked yoga & breath-work instructor Tyia Wilson to create short instructional breath-work, sound and movement videos to help feel a sense of calm.
For our Be Here Now series, we asked yoga & breath-work instructor Tyia Wilson to create short instructional breath-work, sound and movement videos to help feel a sense of calm.
if you are worried about the state of your own sex life post-baby, know you aren’t alone; you’re actually part of the majority. Kara Hoppe discusses how to reclaim your sexual self postpartum.
The Sex Ed explores sex, health, and consciousness in the digital age. Liz Goldwyn leads a sex positive discussion with adult film star and author Nina Hartley and burlesque queen and author Dita Von Teese. Both prominent figures in their respective fields, each have helped demystify the fetish world for wider audiences and open up healthy conversations around sexuality
Founder Liz Goldwyn sits down with Girlboss and journalist Tierney Finster to talk about sex, health and consciousness.
Writer, filmmaker and founder of The Sex Ed, Liz Goldwyn, hosts an evening of conversation with Dr. Kate Lister, owner of Whores of Yore–a living archive of sexual history, and sexual anthropologist Betony Vernon, as they gather with guests to discuss erotic dress and accessories.
Watch Liz Goldwyn, writer, filmmaker and founder of The Sex Ed as she hosts a discussion with artist Genevieve Gaignard and curator Essence Harden at the inaugural Frieze Art Fair in Los Angeles. Presented by MatchesFashion.com.
How can we celebrate sex in ways that emancipate our desire from feelings of shame? Can pleasure, power and porn be redefined as a means to teach us about sex and connection?
Watch filmmaker and founder of The Sex Ed, Liz Goldwyn, in conversation with award-winning, international indie adult filmmaker, Erika Lust, moderated by journalist and editor Danielle Kwateng-Clark.
The trio address the responsibility of representing female sexuality across creative mediums, while reframing the dialogue around pornography and gender equality.
Join acclaimed designer Christopher Kane, founder of The Sex Ed Liz Goldwyn, and journalist, author and critic Alex Fury for a discussion about sex and fashion.
In this piece, Ruba talks about wishing there was more open support around postpartum sex and sexuality; the pressures she felt to ‘get back into the swing of it,’ despite not feeling ready; the lube she considers to be a game-changer; and more.
You may be thinking, “what the hippie heck is sex magic?” Simply put, sex magic is a way of harnessing mindfulness through intention setting during orgasms. This means that when you’re pleasuring yourself or having intimate, connected sex with a partner, you meditate on goals that you wish to attain while climaxing. This could be a new job, an intention to cultivate more self esteem, a dream of where you want your life to go, or even what a partnership could feel like— imagining being fully held, nurtured and seen in the eyes of another.
For this deep dive on gender identity, health & transitioning we’re breaking some of these broad concepts down with Dr. Amy Weimer, founder of the Gender Health Program at UCLA, which offers comprehensive medical and surgical care to the transgender and gender diverse community in Los Angeles and across the United States.
2021 is the reset we all need. The cosmos will bring a fresh start our way. Embrace the energetic change and learn how the Age of Aquarius will affect your zodiac sign.
Venus, the ancient Roman goddess of love, beauty and sexuality, is much more than an enchanting star of mythology. Venus is a divine ray of light that embodies the most beautiful parts of ourselves. This is a guide to understanding how you love and nurture by your Venus zodiac written just for The Sex Ed by astrologer Lisa Stardust.
Interview with David Lynch, film director and Transcendental Meditation practioner and founder of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace.
This special feature covers ways to explore self care and sex itself during the upcoming holiday season. We hope to remind you how important it is to love yourself and spend time around people who support and love you. We want to empower you to pick and choose how you want to engage with yourself and others during this time of year.
Prolific music producer and record executive Rick Rubin co-founded his first label, Def Jam, out of his 1984 dorm room at New York University. Rick helped hip-hop reach mainstream in the late 1980s through his stable of artists, including Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Run DMC. He was also present during the recording of N.W.A’s seminal album, Straight Outta Compton.
I grew up in a Roman Catholic home with a dad who read Bible stories at bedtime. Although our church attendance was rare, I knew that God loved me. Ever curious, I could talk to my parents about anything spiritual but I noticed the word sex tensed their bodies from head to toe. Therefore, God and my sexuality became powerful forces in my life, wholly separate from one another.
Sex launched my journalism career (in a good way!) Although I earn a majority of my living writing about sex, and do so all the time, I’ve hardly ever written about my own sex life. The last time I read something I wrote about my own sex life aloud was in the 11th grade when I read a spoken word poem about all the Smirnoff-scented oral sex I had performed the semester before for a huge assembly of students and staff.
My first real job was as a paid intern for Planned Parenthood. I was 13 and hadn’t gone “all the way.” I was working in the office at the Santa Monica clinic in Los Angeles in the thick of STD testing with anti-abortionists picketing outside—plunged into the deep end of my “professional” sex education.
Mythology around menstruation integrates sacred rites spanning centuries and cultures. Egyptian pharaohs were believed to become divine by drinking the blood of Isis, while Celtic kings sought immortality by drinking the “red mead” of Mab, the fairy queen— both of which were thought to be menstrual blood.
The description of a male climax and a volcanic eruption are almost interchangeable – An energetic discharge of tension and hot material expelled with force from deep within.
“It burns,” she whispered into my ear. “I used a brand-new sex toy and I don’t understand why my entire vulva is on fire.”
Podcast
Do you ever feel stuck in your head during sex, not quite able to fully tune into your body? Sometimes it can help to center yourself with a pre-sex body scan. That’s right, listening to this meditation can enhance your pleasure – be it solo or with a partner. Host Liz Goldwyn guides you through a quick body scan to get you feeling yourself and centered.
Join Liz and Soulei Goe for a Sound Bath. A sound bath is a meditative experience that uses sound frequencies to induce a state of tranquility in the body and brain. We encourage you to enjoy, sit back and float as you listen to this special recording that’s designed to help you let go.
The Sex Ed Podcast is BACK with a special holiday treat! We’re giving you the tools to expand your pleasure potential and bliss out. Liz Goldwyn guides you through a meditation designed to help you breathe your way to orgasmic bliss with this special edition release.
This week’s podcast guest Lykke Li is a singer, songwriter, mother and co-owner of Yola Mezcal. She has been on tour supporting her record SO SAD SO SEXY and follow-up EP, STILL SAD STILL SEXY, which came out in 2018 and 2019. Lykke and Liz talk about creating art from pain; motherhood in the music business; why she’s over music festivals and how her personal definitions of love have evolved.
On the podcast this week is Rebecca Sugar-animator, writer, musician and creator of the groundbreaking animated series Steven Universe. Rebecca is the first non-male in Cartoon Network history to create their own series, which featured the first ever engagement and wedding between same-sex characters. In this episode, Rebecca and Liz discuss the importance of making wholesome LGBTQ+ content; their role in educating children—and their parents—via entertainment; the censorship an internationally syndicated animated kid’s show faces, and the upcoming Steven Universe: The Movie, out September 2.
This week’s podcast features activist and journalist Ashlee Marie Preston. Ashlee is the first openly trans person to run for state office in California, as well as the first trans person to become editor-in-chief of a nationwide publication. Ashlee and Liz talk about how tattoos have been a source of empowerment for her; life as a survival sex worker; abstinence and how transitioning, by its very definition, doesn’t follow a linear path.
This week, our guest is Rabbi Denise Eger, who leads Congregation Kol Ami in West Hollywood. Rabbi Eger is one of the first lesbian Rabbis to work openly in the United States, and was the first queer President of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, which is the largest organization of Rabbis in the world. Rabbi Eger gives a blessing before a conversation about sex and spirituality; the myth of Lilith; ordaining California’s first legal lesbian wedding and how she is leading her congregation to evolve past the gender binary.
A practitioner of BDSM, Mistress Velvet often made their straight, white male clients read and write essays about Black feminist theory. In 2019, Liz spoke with Mistress Velvet about the “whorearchy,” their post-work self care routine, why sex workers are being excluded from traditional sex ed, and how their academic studies have overlapped with their professional life.
We’re kicking off Season 2 of The Sex Ed Podcast fabulously with Violet Chachki, — iconic drag queen, aerialist and burlesque performer. Violet is the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 7 and a showgirl who tours the world. On this episode, Violet and Liz discuss Catholic school uniforms, breaking Drag Race taboos, being a fashion icon and so much more.
No one person is an expert in love. So, for our season finale, Liz asked 50 strangers about LOVE: What is love? Does love hurt? Is love scary? Have you been in love? Their answers reflected a diversity of experiences and perceptions from young, old, single, happily partnered, divorced, polyamorous and currently heartbroken people. From fears of dying alone and being eaten by cats, to a couple that have been together 47 years— this episode covers it all. Visit www.thesexed.com to stay up to date on Season 2!
Betony Vernon is a sexual anthropologist, mistress of the ropes, the author of The Boudoir Bible: The Uninhibited Sex Guide for Today, and the designer behind Jewel Tools—a line of haute couture erotic jewelry. In this episode, Liz and Betony discuss the time Betony professionally tied Liz up (!) as well as digital dating and how bondage can be a healing tool for trauma. Learn more at BetonyVernon.com. You can also see a video of a talk we had in London with MatchesFashion on TheSexEd.com.
Dr. Wendy Cherry is a Sex Therapist and Executive Director and co-founder of the American Association of Couples and Sex Therapists (AACAST.) Dr. Cherry is also Co-Director of UCLA’s AACAST’s programming, for Medical residents, undergrads, licensed and practicing sex therapists. On this episode, Liz and Wendy cover what sex therapy is and how it works, how we can overcome internalized erotic shame, and how to break the ice to your partner when you want to address an issue in the bedroom.
Sunny Rodgers is a clinical sexologist, certified sex coach, sex educator, ordained minister, and, among many, many other things— a regular contributor to TheSexEd.com. In this episode, Liz and Sunny cover everything from non-gendered sex toys, to prostate pleasure to the healing power of sex.
Gwen McClendon is a minister at Shabach Christian Fellowship Church in Los Angeles. She has also been a sex educator since 1969. With over 50 years of experience speaking to teenagers about sexuality, both in the public school system and as a Youth Pastor, Gwen understands first hand why abstinence only education doesn’t work. In this interview Gwen and Liz have a nuanced conversation about sex, love and God, as well as teenage hormones and the church’s responsibilities when it comes to sex education.
Ramy Youssef is the Golden Globe-winning creator and star of Ramy on Hulu, which debuts its second season on May 29th. Liz spoke with Ramy about faith and sex; observing Ramadan during quarantine; the differences between his fictional and real self; filling the void with emotional eating and porn; and how to find the middle ground between earthly desires and the divine.
Mykki Blanco is an internationally renowned performance artist, LGBTQ activist, and musician who’s worked with the likes of Bjork, Kanye West, Madonna, Kathleen Hanna, Major Lazer and more. Liz sat down with Mykki in Milan in February shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak to chat about how transitioning has changed their sex life; sending letters to their heroes; being HIV positive and touring in the Middle East.
Riley Reid is an adult award-winning superstar whose videos have been viewed over a billion times on PornHub. In this week’s episode, Riley and Liz talk about being the CEO of a porn brand with major millennial appeal; how YouTube is giving her a crossover fan base; porn and safe sex in the time of COVID-19; why she likes “vanilla” sex off camera and what she is learning about intimacy.
Joel is a hilarious and talented comedian, and writer that has been on Conan, Netflix, and Comedy Central. In this episode, Liz and Joel talk about sexual stereotypes; growing up in an Evangelical household; his thoughts on the fertility industry as an adopted child; his leaked nudes; and the Jane Austen anal sex joke that he has tattooed on his body.
An exclusive episode of the podcast featuring Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s Creative Director. Liz met Alessandro in Milan to talk about his erotic relationship to nature; why Rome is his mistress; moving beyond confining modes of masculinity; his passion for dressing like a 1950s granny and how he channels orgasmic energy every day.
Books
Selected Poems is the classic volume by the distinguished and celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, winner of the 1950 Pulitzer Prize, and recipient of the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. This compelling collection showcases Brooks's technical mastery, her warm humanity, and her compassionate and illuminating response to a complex world. This edition also includes a special PS section with insights, interviews, and more—including a short piece by Nikki Giovanni entitled "Remembering Gwen."
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A writer, activist, and mother of two, Audre Lorde grew up in 1930s Harlem. She earned a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University, received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for poetry, and was New York State’s Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1993. She is the author of twelve books, including ZAMI and THE BLACK UNICORN. Lorde died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in 1992.
Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author’s vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde’s work is cyclical. It especially relates the linkage of women who have shaped her . . . Lorde brings into play her craft of lush description and characterization. It keeps unfolding page after page.
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Throughout her illustrious career in letters, Maya Angelou gifted, healed, and inspired the world with her words. Now the beauty and spirit of those words live on in this new and complete collection of poetry that reflects and honors the writer’s remarkable life.
Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry also features her final long-form poems, including “A Brave and Startling Truth,” “Amazing Peace,” “His Day Is Done,” and the honest and endearing Mother.
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Charting Kiki and Man Ray’s volatile relationship, award-winning historian Mark Braude illuminates for the first time Kiki’s seminal influence not only on Man Ray’s art, but on the culture of 1920s Paris and beyond. The works they made together, including the Surrealist icons Le Violon d’Ingres and Noire et blanche, now set records at auction. As provocative and magnetically irresistible as Kiki herself, Kiki Man Ray is the story of an exceptional life that will challenge ideas about artists and muses―and the lines separating the two.
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Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can’t love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding. Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last hurrah: meeting his favorite author in person, Miles Montague.
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With Sex, Health, and Consciousness, Liz Goldwyn, founder of the thriving online platform and podcast The Sex Ed, has created an inclusive, holistic, and much-needed guide to sexual well-being—and the pleasure that's possible when we embrace our sexuality as a natural part of a healthy human experience.
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This book redresses the balance, revealing the history of the sex trade through the eyes of sex workers. These tales are brought to life by Whores of Yore creator Kate Lister’s witty and authoritative text, and illuminated by a rich archive of photographs, artworks, and objects offering insight into sex workers’ lives, challenging assumptions about this age-old trade.
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Written by a psychologist and relationship expert, Baby Bomb offers powerful tools based in psychology and neurobiology to help you and your partner co-parent and co-partner as a solid and supportive team--while also cultivating mad love for each other! You'll find more than just "tips" for better parenting and partnering; you'll discover how a secure-functioning relationship is essential for raising happy, healthy kids.
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How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life? Adrienne Maree Brown finds the answer in something she calls "pleasure activism," a politics of healing and happiness that explodes the dour myth that changing the world is just another form of work.
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There is still a shocking lack of accurate, accessible information about pussies and many esteemed medical sources seem to contradict each other. Pussypedia solves that with extensive reviews of peer-reviewed science that address old myths, confusing inconsistencies, and the influence of gender narratives on scientific research–always in simple, joyful language.
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Want to know how to masturbate? Here's your guide. Masturbation doesn't have to be a taboo topic! This straightforward, unapologetic illustrated guide to self-pleasure will teach you what you need to know to get to know your own body. This inclusive manual covers basic anatomy, techniques, mindsets, orgasms, troubleshooting, and a wide range of the tools and toys.
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On Her Knees chronicles Brenda’s spiritual journey over the course of a decade in LA, through marriage, divorce, unlikely friendship, and sexual exploration. Through it all, she began tearing down the false idol of purity while refusing to abandon her faith. Told with raw honesty, sans obligatory shame, this is a story for anyone who wonders if it’s possible to love God without fearing sex, in all its shades of grey.
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Everyone has secrets, especially secret, kinky desires. Unspeakably Erotic: Lesbian Kink is guaranteed to trigger that hot flush that comes with the discovery of a new, sexy, sometimes unmentionable desire and that insatiable hunger that is left wanting more.
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A collective work of art whose time has come. Of lasting value for all lovers of literature and the erotic, this is a glorious, groundbreaking celebration of black sensuality, including works by Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, and many more.
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The effects of traditionally defined masculinity have become one of the most prevalent social issues of our time. In this engaging and provocative new book, beloved actor, director, and social activist Justin Baldoni reflects on his own struggles with masculinity. With insight and honesty, he explores a range of difficult, sometimes uncomfortable topics including strength and vulnerability, relationships and marriage, body image, sex and sexuality, racial justice, gender equality, and fatherhood.
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Unbound is the story of an inimitable woman’s inner strength and perseverance, all in pursuit of bringing healing to her community and the world around her, but it is also a story of possibility, of empathy, of power, and of the leader we all have inside ourselves. In sharing her path toward healing and saying "me too," Tarana reaches out a hand to help us all on our own journeys.
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Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives.
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Can a person literally die of loneliness? Is there such a thing as a "cancer personality"? Drawing on scientific research and the author's decades of experience as a practicing physician, this book provides answers to these and other important questions about the effect of the mind-body link on illness and health and the role that stress and one's individual emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases.
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In a world that thrives on aggression and physical force, male violence has become an all-too-frequent response to the frustrations and anxieties that fill men's lives. Men's Work gives back to men the power and responsibility they need to unlearn the lessons of control and aggression. Going beyond the mythology of the current men's movement, this revolutionary work identifies and develops the social and political framework on which to place men's individual efforts to recover their humanity.
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Biographer Charlotte Chandler draws on a series of interviews she conducted with the star just months before her death in 1980, as well as interviews with people who worked or lived with her. Actress, playwright, screenwriter, and iconic sex symbol Mae West created a scandal-and a sensation-on Broadway with her play Sex in 1926. Her screenplays included some notorious one-liners that have become part of Hollywood lore, but behind the clever quips was Mae's deep desire to see women treated equally with men. She fought the double standard of the time that permitted men things that women would be ruined for doing.
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With The Breathing Book, young readers discover the power of mindful awareness through a series of breathing practices and engaging activities designed to calm the mind and body, set positive intentions, and spark creativity and imagination. A book that’s much more than just a book, this interactive offering from Christopher Willard and Olivia Weisser invites readers to bring their full attention to the sights, sounds, and tactile sensations that arise as they explore the practices on each page with awareness.
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In Love Without Reason: The Lost Art of Giving a F*ck, activist and filmmaker LaRayia Gaston shares an inspiring and actionable guide to help us connect with our hearts, reawaken our innate desire to make a difference, and then actually make that difference in a way that nourishes our souls.
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With The Breathing Book, young readers discover the power of mindful awareness through a series of breathing practices and engaging activities designed to calm the mind and body, set positive intentions, and spark creativity and imagination. A book that’s much more than just a book, this interactive offering from Christopher Willard and Olivia Weisser invites readers to bring their full attention to the sights, sounds, and tactile sensations that arise as they explore the practices on each page with awareness.
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When we live in the ego, we find ourselves full of fear and resistance. When we live in the soul, we are able to be present, listen deeply, and love fully. This is the central teaching in Walking Each Other Home, an intimate dialogue between Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush about loving and dying. Join these two lifelong friends and luminaries as they share stories and exercises, endowing us with the wisdom they have gleaned along this path to help prepare us for the most important spiritual practice there is: dying itself.
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While many know of his transformation from Harvard psychology professor Richard Alpert to psychedelic and spiritual icon, Ram Dass tells here for the first time the full arc of his remarkable life. Populated by a cast of luminaries ranging from Timothy Leary to Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Allen Ginsberg to Alan Watts—this intimate memoir chronicles Ram Dass's life across nine decades of cultural and spiritual transformation that resonate with us to this day.
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Millions of broken couples say sexual dissatisfaction was their number one reason for ending the relationship. Learn how to recover your passion, find the connection you crave, and boost your sexual confidence. Or gain the insights you need to embark on a new adventure without the sexual baggage and challenges of the past. No matter where you are in your sexual evolution, this intimate, practical guide will help you renew your curiosity, reclaim intimacy, and embrace your full potential for erotic freedom.
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When Trevor MacDonald decided to start a family, he knew that the world was going to have questions for him. As a transgender man in a gay relationship; this memoir is a book about being a breastfeeding parent and a transgender man, and the many beautiful, moving, and difficult ways these two identities collide. “Where’s the Mother?” is a memoir like no other.
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The inspiring true story of transgender actor and activist Nicole Maines, whose identical twin brother, Jonas, and ordinary American family join her on an extraordinary journey to understand, nurture, and celebrate the uniqueness in us all.
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From the ancient poet Sappho to tombois in contemporary Indonesia, women throughout history and around the globe have desired, loved, and had sex with other women. In beautiful prose, Sapphistries tells their stories, capturing the multitude of ways that diverse societies have shaped female same-sex sexuality across time and place.
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A powerful study of the women's liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders. From the widely revered and legendary political activist and scholar Angela Davis.