A review by fiorentinabelga
Sex: Lessons From History by Fern Riddell

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

Fern Riddell has written a very accessible and interesting history of sexuality that challenges you to rethink your own views and prejudices towards sex and everything it entails. Both people who've never read anything on the history of sexuality and people who have will find new and surprising information in this book. Riddell's writing is a joy to read with precise but engaging descriptions and some humorous notes sprinkled in along the way. 
The entire book is clearly written and designed to highlight female voices, female participation and female stories while still managing to give a broad overview. She also doesn't shy away from controversial but important topics, such as when she addresses the "debate" on transgender issues by TERF's and "gender critical feminists" in her final chapter. 
The only "negative" remarks I can give is that, especially in the first few chapters of the book, there are quite a few typos and mistakes that were clearly missed in editing. But this is a minor concern. Aside from that, she can also get a little repetitive in her conclusions of every chapter, always alluding to the same "we have lost and misconstrued a lot of sexual freedom from the past" idea but as this is the central tenet of her book, it isn't overly annoying. 
All in all, a great read that will amaze, shock and lure you into further reflection, even after finishing.

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