Coming Clean

Coming Clean, a discussion of typical heterosexual behaviors, doesn't pretend that masculine and feminine miscommunications should be celebrated as multicultural differences or inter-species contact. In a society obsessed with sex but fraudulent about real exploration of its vagaries, Edwards and Stephen contend that most people think sex is dirty, that sexual excitement is based on taboo, and that most of us don't believe decent people should do that stuff. Weary of sentimental self-help books that serve warmed-over romantic cliches and rationalize neo-Victorian voyeurism, the authors gaze at the reptilian spectacle of sexual congress and the nightmare of idiotic mind games between men and women. Coming Clean exposes the guilt, confusion, and self-loathing that people choke back when we remember what we did last night. In the wake of the sexual revolution and the erotophobic backlash, this book dispenses with self-deceiving nonsense about romance, force-fed to us all since birth. Coming Clean says sex is emotional and physical TNT. It's a minefield. It's a mess. And it's funny.