Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex.

In Talk Dirty to Me: An Intimate Philosophy of Sex (Doubleday), Sallie Tisdale conducts a poetic exploration of pornography, sexuality, dominance, submission, and physical joy. Tisdale sets herself against the idea, shared by many feminists and anti-feminists alike, that pornography is an exclusively male province. Her expeditions into sex shops remind me of female sports reporters' forays into the locker room--invasions of a jealously guarded male sphere. Tisdale bravely plants the flag for women in the wilderness of bawdy, unrestrained, unregulated sex. I wouldn't want to visit these peep shows, movie theaters, and newsstands myself. At the same time, I appreciate Tisdale's efforts to conquer and demystify them for all women.

Tisdale advances a broad and generous theory of the erotic that rejects repression, and makes room for a variety of sexual experience. It is a strikingly hopeful view: "What if the pleasure principal is allowed to ripen?" she asks. "This requires us to believe in human goodness, and most of us don't."

Such a libertine attitude is dramatically out of place in our current political climate. So it is with surprise and relief that I've noticed this radical notion of pleasure popping up in my reading throughout the year.

In the last chapter of her 1989 book Fear of Falling, Barbara Ehrenreich discusses the anxiety about scarcity among members of the middle class that creates conservatism and fear. Then she takes an unexpected turn. Even if there is a coming scarcity of money or consumer goods, Ehrenreich claims, there is another prized possession of the middle class of which there is no shortage--the secret joy of meaningful, fulfilling work. There is enough wealth in this country to go around, she points out. But sharing it requires that we give up our ideas of class, rank, and individual worth measured in money. Furthermore, we need to expand the possibility for a more satisfying way of life to include all Americans--meaningful work for everyone.

Ehrenreich proposes that Americans realign our values to emphasize not money but rather a kind of Aristotelian ideal of fulfillment.

This is the "muscle" of hope that Madeleine Blais observes in female, high-school athletes--the urge to grow, get stronger, and learn. It is Tisdale's pleasure principal. ("What Marcuse calls the 'erotic reality' isn't based in sex so much as in a life-affirming and loving acceptance of others," Tisdale writes. "Scarcity of every kind is artificial.... We make scarcity, both economic and interpersonal. Sexual energy is an abundance that fills more than one void.")