Public Sex: The Culture of Radical Sex
Among the beacons of sex radicalism--alongside Susie Bright, Carol Queen, Kate Bornstein, and very few others--Pat Califia has been writing angry, sex-positive essays and politically charged erotica since the late 1970s. The bulk of her many nonfiction pieces is collected in this reprint of a book first published in 1994, providing a lively, informal history of the sex wars of the '80s and '90s--from the absurd, puritanical Meese Commission Report to the antiporn feminists to the unexamined attitudes behind the popular Re/Search bookModern Primitives. The chief apologist for the S/M community and one of the strongest voices in the anticensorship fight, Califia is at her best when the subject is closest to home. Her peevish reflections on the stupidity and political shortsightedness of anti-S/M feminists and lesbians are a joy to read; you can hear the swish of her whip and the stamp of her boot heel. With its excellent introduction, this book should be on the shelf of every feminist, every lesbian, every sexual adventurer, and anyone who hopes to understand sexual politics in America.--Regina Marler