Sex Book: An Update

So I’m actually finishing this sex anthology—remember that I wrote about it earlier this summer?—and I can tell you one thing: compiling an anthology about sex is as complicated—almost, sort of—as having sex: You have to make choices, decide who’s in and who’s out, consider alternatives, and hope that enlightenment, pleasure, and perspective will follow.

The difference for me is that actual money is exchanged.

I know that will come as a shock to some.

I try not to take such remarks personally.

Here’s the scoop: The Great Books Foundation asked me to edit the first in their “Vital Ideas Series” which is described in their catalog as “a new series of compact, inexpensive anthologies they hope will be used in college composition and reading courses, as well as in developmental-level courses in two and four-year colleges.”

Allow me, please, to simplify my task and continue to quote from the brochure: “Edited by experienced English professors throughout the U.S. (beginning with Regina Barreca of the University of Connecticut, author of Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League), these books will engage vital ideas and topics of our time in a format that grabs student interest, deepens reflection, encourages debate, and provides the necessary content—and context—for provocative and meaningful writing assignments. Each book will feature 10 to 12 pieces of journalism, memoir, and fiction…. The first four anthologies will focus on sex, work, money, and crime.”

So naturally, as I am a respecter of the Great Books Foundation, and a respecter of the esteemed editor Daniel Born, as well as a notorious respecter of sex, I was delighted to accept the invitation to edit. Dealing with sex seems sort of easy when compared to those other topics. That’s the only thing that kept me going some nights.

I chose 14 pieces. Some of them were suggested by you, dear readers, and for that I am grateful.

Because, to be honest, this whole manuscript—from the choosing to pieces themselves to crafting the writing prompts—was much trickier than I had expected. 

Precautions needed to be taken; repercussions needed to be anticipated; permission needed to be requested, for heaven’s sake.

And then there’s the intellectual/emotional stuff. Readers bring to texts about sex what they hope to find: Whether hunting for sin or searching for salvation, the creative critical thinker will discover strong evidence for his or her perspective; whether searching for reasons to see sex as a low form of emotional expression or the highest form of spiritual communication, no one is turned away empty-handed

The idea of sex captures our intellectual imagination as fully as sexual desire captures our physical selves. Since the first pornographers represented human figures engaged in sexual acts by scratching pictures on cave walls, we have been driven to express our thoughts about sex in order to puzzle out its meanings. Guided by our own strong appetites and passions, even when those appetites and passions are misguided, we are rarely encouraged to treat the matter of sex candidly and with intelligent, reasoned perspective.

Go ahead and try it. Trust me, it ain’t easy.

But boy, oh, boy, it has been fun.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Be sure to read Barreca and Weingarten in The Washington Post on gender and phone calls.