Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life

In the opening chapter of Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life, Dr. Emily Nagoski hints at the history surrounding female sexuality. In the Middle Ages, women’s genitals were called “pudendum” from the Latin pudere, meaning “to make ashamed.” Dr. Nagoski explains that the reasoning is that women’s genitals are “tucked away between their legs” (17). Shame, however, is the title of the history of Western female sexuality: Women’s sexual desire has been ignored and/or condemned in a history dominated by male power and dominance.

Ancient Greek culture introduced many ideas about sex to Western culture, including words like “eroticism” and “homosexuality,” revealing the prevalence of arousal and desire in Greek society. However, when it came to women and sex, attitudes were far less inclusive. Mythological heroes like Hercules were said to have slept with countless virgins, and the gods frequently performed acts of sexual violence, with women’s bodies exploited and tallied like objects. Marriages were rarely referred to as unions of love; instead, loving relationships were found outside of wedlock. Ancient Greek culture projected the idea that, for women, sex was only about producing children and never about pleasure. This cultural