Jaclyn Friedman

From two leading, agenda-setting feminist editors, Believe Me brings readers into the current landscape of the anti-sexual violence movement--and outlines how believing women is the critical foundation for future progress. Essays include Jessica Valenti writing about how a woman's word has never been enough in our country, giving context to the question of why we don't believe women. Jaclyn Friedman draws that idea out further, articulating why it matters that women are believed about sexual violence - because doing so finally grants us bodily sovereignty, impacting whether we can be trusted about pain, about pleasure, about reproduction and beyond. Other top-tier contributors touch on: how race and class impact which kinds of women are believed; the ways that women's behaviour (what they wear, what they were drinking) trumps their testimony and words; how believing white women has harmed communities of colour; visions of masculinity that aren't dependent on undermining women. Part taking stock of recent feminist movements, part visions for a way forward, Believe Me has the potential to spark real change and to appeal to the countless men and women who have been engaging with #metoo and looking to feminist leadership for next steps.

What bestselling authors like Sheryl Sandberg and Brigid Schulte have done for women's work lives, Jaclyn Friedman does here for women's sexuality: spark a culture-wide rethink about what's accepted as normal, urging us all to try for something better. Not only that: she does it with warmth, irreverence, and candor reminiscent of Roxane Gay in Bad Feminist, and the fiery conviction of her own co-edited anthology Yes Means Yes In Unscrewed, Friedman reveals that the anxiety and fear women in our country feel around issues of their sexuality are not, in fact, their fault, but instead are side effects of our toxic culture. Dubbed the "era of fauxpowerment," that culture gives women the illusion of sexual power, with no actual power to support it. Exploring where media, religion, politics, and education overlap with feminist issues, Unscrewed breaks down the causes and signs of fauxpowerment, then gives readers tools to take it on themselves.

In this empowering, accessible guide, Jaclyn Friedman,co-editor of Yes Means Yes ,gives young women the tools to decipher the modern world's confusing, hypersexualized, sometimes dangerous landscape so they can define their own sexual identity. Friedman decries the hypocrisy and mixed messages of our culture (we're failures if we don't act sexy, but we're sluts if we actually pursue sex we need to be protected from rapists lurking in bushes, but deserve whatever we get" if we have a drink at a party and wear a skirt), and encourages readers to separate fear from fact, decode the damaging messages all around them, and discover a healthy personal sexuality.Educational and interactive, What You Really Really Want includes revealing quizzes, creative exercises, and reality-based advice about sex and sexuality today. With Friedman's informed advice to guide them, readers will build new skills for safely expressing their sexuality with lovers and explore effective ways to talk about tricky issues with family and friends,and learn how to make the world a little safer for everyone else's sexuality along the way.