Comments on: Sex Simply Wouldn't Be the Same Without These 11 Kickass Women

Sex Simply Wouldn't Be the Same Without These 11 Kickass Women

ellieBOA — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 03:48:39 -0800

Women haven't always gotten to play a big role in the scientific advancements, studies and cultural conversations concerning sexuality. [...] But numerous powerful women have elbowed their way in, taking control over female sexuality and introducing innovations that actually what women want and need.

Further reading: Virginia Johnson Margaret Sanger Anaïs Nin Judy Blume Helen Gurley Brown Simone de Beauvoir Annie Besant Audre Lorde Dr. Ruth Françoise Barré-Sinoussi Whitney Wolfe

By: GallonOfAlan

GallonOfAlan — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 04:32:11 -0800

*tips hat*

By: mahorn

mahorn — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 04:34:43 -0800

This is a nice appreciation, interestingly organized, and I'm especially glad to learn of Besant, whom I hadn't heard of. Thanks. Is it me or does it conclude a little Pepsi Blue?

By: Obscure Reference

Obscure Reference — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 05:17:56 -0800

I was surprised to see Annie Besant on the list since she is really famous for her association with Madame Blavatsky and Theosophy.

By: NoxAeternum

NoxAeternum — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 06:45:44 -0800

Is it me or does it conclude a little Pepsi Blue? Because of the inclusion of Wolfe? Not really. As was pointed out during the Tinder shitstorm, a large part of the app's success was due to her building the critical mass of users, and she did so by pointing out to women how the app worked to enable women's sexuality in a manner good for them.

By: Halloween Jack

Halloween Jack — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 07:32:53 -0800

*tips hat* m'lady

By: Swandive

Swandive — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 07:49:46 -0800

Forever by Judy Blume laid bare as with a scalpel the heart of woman. Of course, I didn't have sex for another 10 years after reading that, but I'm not putting that on Judy.

By: joseph conrad is fully awesome

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 08:07:55 -0800

ISTR My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday and the Shere Hite report being Very Big Deals. A good list but HGB was a bit - um, gross? - with regards to women. I'm not sure she was doing much, other than sensationalism with a twist of good old-fashioned retrograde sex stuff that wasn't that progressive for women at all..

By: joseph conrad is fully awesome

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 08:08:55 -0800

(Oh and nice to see Dr. Ruth - she was great!)

By: ellieBOA

ellieBOA — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 08:18:25 -0800

Thanks JCIFA, not being American I didn't know a lot about HGB, do you have any articles you could link?

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 08:34:05 -0800

From the NYT bio piece on Helen Gurley Brown:

Ms. Scanlon notes, interestingly, that some of Ms. Brown's most provocative writing — on topics like contraception, abortion (which was still illegal), and lesbianism — was cut from "Sex and the Single Girl" by male editors. Nevertheless, the book went on to be a best seller and a cultural phenomenon.

That seems to just be begging for a new, unexpurgated edition, if the original manuscript survived. I wonder if some of the more pointed critiques of the book as un-feminist or anti-feminist would have been blunted had the book not been edited for political correctness.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 09:53:24 -0800

I'm confused as to why the choice was made to put Helen Gurley Brown on this list instead of Gloria Steinem.

By: gingerbeer

gingerbeer — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 11:24:32 -0800

Also surprised by Annie Besant, who I only know in relation to theosophy (and that my mom wrote her thesis on her.)

By: Segundus

Segundus — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 12:47:18 -0800

I'd nominate Marie Stopes, who kind of picked up the torch from Margaret Sanger across the pond and was hugely determined and effective.

By: oneswellfoop

oneswellfoop — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 14:20:07 -0800

nice to see Dr. Ruth - she was great Back in the days when we were taking Alzheimer's Disease less seriously, I wrote a bad joke about a new strain of Alzheimer's... Westheimer's Disease, when you can't remember the last time you had sex. (I am SO sorry) But, yes, Dr. Ruth was great, and the radio "sex talk" hosts who followed in her wake only reinforced how great SHE was.

By: Oyéah

Oyéah — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 19:03:14 -0800

Best to these women, they made up for a complete void of girl friendly info in my day. Now it is TMI, but not necessarily TMGI.