Sugar In My Bowl: Real Women Write About Real Sex

SUGAR IN MY BOWL is Erica Jong's first anthology, including work by Eve Ensler, Anne Roiphe, Susan Cheever, Marisa Marchetto, Susie Bright, Gail Collins, Liz Smith, Fay Weldon, Daphne Merkin, Jennifer Weiner, Linda Gray Sexton, Jong herself and many new writers. The focus of the book is female desire-what provokes it and what satisfies it. The answers are as varied as the writers.
In "Do I own you now?" Daphne Merkin writes of beautiful male bodies. In "Everything Must Go" Jennifer Weiner evokes the paradox of great sex in the shadow of death. In "So Tell Me About Best Sex" Eve Ensler writes a playlet in which three women ecstatically describe their best sex ever. Min Jin Lee writes about sex and racism - particularly the fantasies white men have about Asian women and how an Asian-American woman responds. We also hear from the non-sexual generation - daughters of sixties and seventies mothers who would just as soon not be so open about sex. Julie Klam writes a funny piece about rebellion against being too open about sex. If women of the sixties and seventies sought sexual openness, their daughters, ironically enough, want to bring back inhibition.
SUGAR IN MY BOWL takes its title from a blues song made famous by Bessie Smith and Nina Simone. Jong believes that African-American women blues artists were the first feminists, speaking the truth of female desire long before white women dared to. She has always been inspired by the frankness and fierce honesty of the blues.
The range and variety of this anthology may surprise readers. Desire is universal, but its particular expressions are as varied as women themselves. From wild nights to the innocence of inexperienced youth, SUGAR IN MY BOWL explores the sexuality of women with daring and candor, challenging us to examine our lives in the bedroom as we have never done so before.
Contributors
Karen Abbott
Anne Roiphe
Jessica Winter
Jann Turner
Julie Klam
Susan Kinsolving
Susie Bright
Fay Weldon
Linda Gray Sexton
Elisa Albert
Barbara Victor
Daphne Merkin
Marisa Marchetto
Min Jin Lee
Honor Moore
Jennifer Weiner
Gail Collins
Liz Smith
Naomi Wolf
Rebecca Walker
Jean Hanff Korelitz
Eve Ensler
Meghan O'Rourke
Rosemary Daniell
Jill Kargman
Jennifer Andres