Sugar in My Bowl: Real Women Write About Real Sex

I need a little sugar in my bowl, I need a little hot dog, on my roll I can stand a bit of lovin’, oh so bad, I feel so funny, I feel so sad. -Bessie Smith

When it comes to sex, what do women want In this eye-opening and courageous collection, Erica Jong reveals that every woman has her own answer.

Susan Cheever talks about the excruciating hazards of casual sex, while Gail Collins recounts her Catholic upbringing in Cincinnati and the nuns who passionately forbade her from having carnal relations. In Everything Must Go, Jennifer Weiner explores how, in love, the body can play just as big a role as the heart. The octogenarians in Karen Abbott’s sharp-eyed piece possess a passion that could give Betty White a run for her money. Molly Jong-Fast reflects on her unconventional upbringing and why a whole generation of young women have rejected free love in favor of Bugaboo strollers and Mommy-and-me yoga.

Sex, it turns out, can be as fleeting, heavy, mundane, and intense as the rest of life. Indeed, Jong states in her powerful introduction the truth is-sex is life.

Contributors Karen Abbott * Elisas Albert * J. A. K. Andres * Susie Bright * Susan Cheever * Gail Collins * rosemary Daniell * Eve Ensler * Molly Jong-Fast * Susan Kinsolving * Julie Klam * Jean Hanff Korelitz * Min Jin Lee * Ariel Levy * Margaret Magowan * Marisa Acocella Marchetto * Daphne Merkin * Honor Moore * Meghan O'Rourke * Anne Roiphe * Linda Gray Sexton * Liz Smith * Jann Turner * Barbara Victor * Rebecca Walker * Jennifer Weiner * Fay Weldon * Jessica Winter