Sex Will Be Good Again by Katherine Angel

Katherine Angel uses science studies and popular culture to examine female desire, consent and sexuality. It's a non-fiction piece split into four parts: On Consent, On Desire, On Arousal and On Vulnerability.

Her chapter 'On Consent' was probably the most fascinating for me. Her discussions surrounding the MeToo movement and how there was almost a culture of pressure that emerged from this. A pressure that arguably was forcing individuals to share their stories in order to display their "feminist powers". Her exploration of "consent culture" and how it places the focus and onus on the woman to explore what she wants, to say what she wants was really quite thought-provoking for me. She talked about the difficulties of understanding our own desires can make this problematic and how consent culture can lead us into a trap of only seeing women agreeing to sex rather than desiring sex. Her arguments surrounding consent culture were very nuanced and this is only a small glimpse, and she was by no means saying consent is not important.

I also really appreciated her explorations in the chapters 'On Desire' and 'On Arousal' surrounding the scientific studies and the problems with examining sex in a scientific context. Who is willing to come forward and talk about sex and their sexual desires truthfully? Who is willing to have sex for a science experiment? Who has been selected for these studies, is it just white cisegendered heterosexual men? And can sex be science or is it all just the erotic?

I thought her considerations surrounding physical arousal and connections with consent, desire, and sexuality were also really interesting and something that I have not seen discussed enough.

I will say the final chapter 'On Vulnerability' disappointed me a little and I felt that the whole book lacked a conclusion drawing it together. In addition to that the book read quite academically in places. I do think the book can still be accessible for people invested in the topic though.

My one major complaint is the referencing in this book which is just page numbers listed at the back with no footnote references so I don't know whilst reading when there is a reference. I'm not sure if this is a new trend to try and promote these books as more accessible and less academic, but really is just a poor stylistic choice for me. Especially when the book clearly has a specific target audience and listed as non-fiction.

On the subject of intersectionality, Angel acknowledges the piece is largely heteronormative and cis-gendered focused but hopes those in gay/queer relationships and trans individuals will find some resonance with the book. However, given her own experiences and identity she doesn't feel best placed to explore the more nuanced details of those relationships in this context. This isn't to say she ignores queerness for the rest of the book and she still gives some considerations to binary nature of sex studies, to attitudes towards sex and gender more broadly. She also considers how racial divisions feed into sex and sexuality and discusses elements like the oversexualisation of women of colour. Given the shortness and realms of the book I thought Angel offered insight to these subjects, but there almost certainly require full books of their own for further exploration.

Overall though, Katherine Angel has a really fascinating book with a lot of nuance and thought and I really appreciated the whole reading experience. It gave me a lot to think about.