Screwed: How Women Are Set Up to Fail at Sex

Facing the oppression and erasure of female desire head on.
In the jargon of pornography, thecumshotis the final shot that depicts the exclusive enjoyment of the male actor. In it, Lili Boisvert sees the perfect illustration of the dominant principle behind heterosexual encounters: the idea that desire is a male phenomenon and women are merely its object. When challenged, adherents of this notion have insisted it was “human nature,” or spouted outdated psychological and biological theories, even though these are repeatedly contradicted by factual evidence.
On film, on the page, in fashion, and in a host of other areas, female desire is routinely shown as subordinate to male desire — when it isn’t suppressed altogether. To change this alienating system, Boisvert contends, we must start by facing it head on. In a series of rebellious, humorous, and well-documented essays, she sketches the contours of what could be true sexual liberation for women.