Sophia C. reviewed on 6/3/2010 + 289 more book reviews

My Secret Garden is Nancy Friday's first foray into the world of sexual fantasies. Although it can be read simply for titillation as a voyeuristic peek into the sexual minds of American women, it's not intended as such. Nancy Friday had a feminist vision in mind--although rejected by mainstream feminists--of sexual equality, by normalizing the idea of women having and enjoying sexual fantasies as such. Ironically, the secret garden needed to be made a little public in order to convince women it is all right to cultivate her own. Friday systematically chronicles reasons why women might fantasize, what themes run through fantasies and their origins, and a final section called "Fantasy Accepted," all highlighted from examples she collected in letters and interviews. There's a lot of subject appropriate four-letter words and kinky fantastical acts described, although less explicitly than in a later volume on men's fantasies entitled Men in Love. An interesting read for someone interested in women's sexuality and gender studies.

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