A Piece of Cake: Recipes for Female Sexual Pleasure [NOOK Book]

Read an Excerpt

Women today are leading vibrant and diverse sexual lives. We are evolving in our relationships and our careers, entertaining a never-ending variety of fantasies and realizing pleasure-filled adventures. A distinct and powerful female sexual culture is emerging, wherein women are more satisfied and in control than ever before.

Despite this progress, many age-old myths and misconceptions about women and sex still abound. Female pleasure is discussed in antiquated terms, when it's discussed at all. We are supposedly less sexual than men, labeled either "bad girls" or "good girls," sexy babes or sexless mothers, sluts or virgins. Moreover, we're expected to just "look good" rather than "feel good," encouraged to fake it if we can't "make it," and generally discouraged from getting off.

There is a huge disconnect between how women are portrayed and how women really live, fantasize, think, and act. In 2000, we created CAKE to set the record straight. We began producing events in New York City and later expanded to London. We launched the CAKE website -- cakenyc.com -- and asked women from around the world to share their sexual experiences with us. Our goal was to create a forum, to begin a dialogue, and to allow women to integrate sexuality into all aspects of their lives. From our first CAKE event, where naughty excerpts from 100 of the best erotic films were projected on 40-foot screens, we knew we were on to something! We watched as the floodgates opened and women started talking...dirty!

Over the past five years we have talked to, worked with, and entertained thousands of women, in person and online. We created the CAKE Report, an online sex survey that included demographics, personal sexual histories, body image, masturbation habits, orgasm techniques, fantasy lives, partner explorations, contraception preferences, and sexual health practices. Slowly but surely, a fresh vision of female sexuality emerged.

Many of the women we interviewed live in New York City. Others are scattered throughout the United States, and the rest hail from the UK and abroad. Some are married, and some are single. They come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds. A majority have college or graduate degrees, some have children, and most identify as "straight," though they are not always fond of labels.

What follows is a profile of a new generation of women, and the birth of the CAKE philosophy of female sexuality.

Recipes for Female Sexual Pleasure

We have chosen to highlight positive ways that women seek and find sexual pleasure. We do not claim that all women have experienced or must explore sexuality in every way we suggest. Our agenda is to provide more options for women and to show the many ways that women get turned on and get off.

Let's get started. Here are recipes for you to expand your repertoire. Female sexuality is about to come out of the closet.

The CAKE Philosophy

• Women like to initiate sex.
• We get turned on every day of the week.
• We are visual.
• We fantasize.
• We know how to get ourselves off.
• We like sex (better than shopping!).
• We know how our bodies work.
• Sex isn't over with until we orgasm.

Copyright © 2005 by Melinda Gallagher and Emily Kramer