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Dr. Patti Britton, fondly known as Dr. Patti, shares her titillating yet profoundly personal transformation from a teenager discovering the difference between love and lust through her journey toward becoming the world's first credentialed female sexologist. Notable for her refreshing honesty and compassion during her decades-long career as a world-renowned sex coach and therapist, she was first inspired by her youthful sexual experimentation in the turbulent world of the 1960s women's rights and sexual liberation movements. She soon became a single mom to a beloved daughter who would sadly become a victim of the HIV epidemic in her late thirties. Despite these obstacles and mishaps—and sometimes because of them—Britton bravely sought the insights, intimacy, and spiciness that guilt-free, fulfilling sexuality brings to a balanced life.
Britton's passion for her subject is clear in her narrative. Her honesty is remarkable, and she reveals many incidents that some women are reluctant to discuss, such as the empty aftermath of one-night stands, and the date rapes and abuses by unworthy, angry males seeking dominance over females. Each chapter of this memoir is loaded with reflections, always beginning with a theme song and ending with a valuable "lesson learned" phrase. In addition to her eventual work in sexuality studies, Britton's first career position was as an outreach worker for the WIC program, where she later retired as the director at her location. Later, she spent many years in various positions at Planned Parenthood, roles that placed her in touch with sexuality issues, leading to her doctoral study at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (IASHS) in San Francisco. Britton's fascinating, busy life and her willingness to bare it all make for a vibrant, thought-provoking reading experience.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review