Sexualities All books
Anne de Kervasdoué
Women's Questions New, revised and enlarged edition
This is the revised and expanded fourth edition of Anne de Kervasdoué's highly successful handbook on women's health, Questions de Femmes. The author, a gynaecologist, answers a large range of questions about the female body, sexuality and the control of fertility. She provides an extensive survey of gynaecological information for each stage of a woman's life, from birth to old age. What type of contraception should be used before the age of twenty, and after forty? How can a woman increase her chances of becoming pregnant when she wishes? What should be done if a woman has one miscarriage after another? How can medicine further sexual fulfilment? What can plastic surgery do for breast enhancement? How does breast cancer develop? What are the effects of AIDS on maternity? What are some of the symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases? Anne de Kervasdoué also offers precise and detailed information about such recent developments as intracytoplasmic sperm injections (ICSI) for the treatment of male sterility, she explains what is the third-generation Pill, and she examines the secondary effects of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). Most of the changes in this new edition concern the treatment of the menopause. Following the recent publication in Britain and the United States of three studies revealing a higher incidence of breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases among women who take hormones, questions are being raised about the benefits and risks of HRT, and women want to be able to make informed decisions. Included here are a practical guide and a list of useful addresses, which have also been updated. Anne de Kervasdoué is a gynaecologist working in the maternity clinic Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, in Paris. She is the author of Jours de Femmes, and the co-author (with Janine Mossuz-Lavau) of Les Femmes ne sont pas des hommes comme les autres and (with Dr. Jean Bélaïsch) of Questions d'Hommes, all three published by Editions Odile Jacob.
Marie-Jo Bonnet
What Does a Woman Desire when She Desires a Woman?
The desire of women for their own sex is a subject that has been concealed and heavily censored since Antiquity. Yet it has constantly resurfaced throughout history - despite repression, denial and today's feigned indifference - and its existence is a historical and anthropological fact, whatever the dominant opinion may say. Marie-Jo Bonnet argues that lesbianism transgresses social norms and female stereotypes, and breaks with the phallic model and the restricted social role that is assigned to women even today. She sees lesbian desire as a radical instrument of emancipation and offers an original analysis of the women's liberation movement, of recent discussions about homosexuality and, finally, of the persistence of lesbophobia. Desire, regardless of its subject, is always a unique and complex experience, and Bonnet does not ignore this fact. In an original, wide-ranging study of lesbian love through literature, she delves into the work of such major writers of the past as Marguerite Yourcenar, Violette Leduc, Simone de Beauvoir, Djuna Barnes and, surprisingly, Madame de Sévigné, as well as of more recent writers such as Monique Wittig, Anne Garreta and Christine Angot. The author's thesis is that women's desire for their own sex can serve as a tool to empower them to conquer their own space of creativity and liberation. Marie-Jo Bonnet, a writer and historian, is the author of Les Relations Amoureuses Entre Femmes (XVIe-XXe siècle).
Lucy Vincent
How to Fall in Love
What if love was one of the best magic tricks invented by evolution ? A far cry from the soppy, and rose-tinted fairy tales of our childhood, Lucy Vincent invites us to discover, with her both humorous and emotive approach, the true face of love its ruses, its calculations, but also its charm, its fun, and at the end of the day, its essential beauty. An indispensable read for those who wish to know the hidden aspects of love, and a useful tool to help master the strategies and language of love. A doctor in neurosciences, Lucy Vincent is equally a scientific editor at Radio France.
