Naomi Wolf

The New Yorker ran an article about Naomi Wolf's new book Vagina: A New Biography which I found very interesting. I plan to read the book, but in the short term the article was a good introduction.

The New York times also reviewed it. "Wolf’s ideas and suggestions in “Vagina” are valuable ones, and she repeats much truth, particularly in the territory of Helen Fisher and Louann Brizendine, about the full-body, chemical grenade that is lust. Her premise is that “the vagina is the delivery system for the states of mind that we call confidence, liberation, self-­realization and even mysticism in women.”  The New York Times says that, although it goes on to say that the book is not that great, but is a valuable place to continue a larger debate.

Here's the problem, as I see it. Sexual organs, genitals, vaginas and clitori in particular need lots of attention for transformative sex to occur. And that attention isn't all physical. Getting off and getting transformed are not the same thing. It may be true that women have a harder time divorcing their sexual feelings from the rest of their soul. It's true, too, that men can't deeply engage in sex that is more than orgasm or ego without connecting to soul as well. Most people might not care. Sex as sex, in its own box, so to speak. But when we move beyond fumbling in the dark, the adolescent curse that can last a lifetime, we have to ask more difficult questions, and move beyond the physical.

What is clear is that transforming sexual identity and practice can be broadly transformative in life. I first learned this from lesbian friends years ago, who saw the direct relationship between their sexual lives and how they viewed the world in general. I came to see my own life in that light, not as a lesbian, but as a sexual being. Power, self-image, relationships with others, and the mysterious chemical changes wrought by sexual stimulation, orgasm, and intimacy affect me deeply, and the dominant culture doesn't walk to talk about that. Sex sells, or sex is dirty, or sex is private, with no acknowledgement of how powerful sex can be in moving us forward in every aspect of our lives.

Read the book and come back and comment on it. I'll read it myself and let you know what I think.