"The pieces are testaments to the hard-won freedoms of the sexual revolution that Brown both stirred and stymied." — Megan Garber, The Atlantic
"I just loved reading through these essays." — Jasmine Guillory (on the Today Show)
“I practically inhaled this book in under 24 hours. . . . What I love most about this collection is simply the raw honesty in these essays. . . . Truthful, refreshing, and oftentimes deeply and hilariously relatable.” — Feminist Book Club
“Leaves Girl in the last century and starts an entirely new conversation. . . . What we have instead is a collection of essays from a new generation of single women. These 24 individuals are much different from the ‘girl’ Helen Gurley Brown was speaking to. These women are diverse in age, ethnicity, gender identity, and so much more.” — Divorcist.com
"A wide-ranging, life-affirming collection." — Booklist
“Smith and Swanson curate accounts of sexual experiences from a diverse group of women, all of whom seem willing to help change the system—or at least the way we talk and think about singledom. Each essay offers a unique perspective… themes of both friendship and trauma are threaded throughout the collection, which is mostly respectful to its source material but unafraid of calling out many of its outdated notions.” — Kirkus Reviews
"A refreshing and relevant update to a classic, featuring some of my favorite working writers today." — Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and I Came All This Way to Meet You
"Sex and the Single Woman is at once a tribute to the ground-breaking work of Helen Gurley Brown, and a corrective for her outdated perspectives. With a wonderful assortment of eye-opening, moving stories from a diverse group of writers, the book is a joy to get lost in. Truly a celebration of sexually liberated women—of all backgrounds, ages, and orientations." — Sari Botton, New York Times bestselling editor of Goodbye to All That and author of the memoir And You May Find Yourself...
“Sex and the Single Woman is essential reading for anyone who has experienced—or is currently experiencing—all the joys, pains, and complex beauty of their own singlehood era. Rather than painting one’s status as a single or childfree woman as something to be pitied or glossed over or devalued, this book takes singlehood seriously, and does not contain its exploration to one voice, but rather passes the mic around to paint a much more interesting picture." — Emma Gray, Host of "Love To See It" and author of A Girl's Guide To Joining The Resistance
Sex and the Single Woman is essential reading for anyone who has experienced—or is currently experiencing—all the joys, pains, and complex beauty of their own singlehood era. Rather than painting one’s status as a single or childfree woman as something to be pitied or glossed over or devalued, this book takes singlehood seriously, and does not contain its exploration to one voice, but rather passes the mic around to paint a much more interesting picture."
"Sex and the Single Woman is at once a tribute to the ground-breaking work of Helen Gurley Brown, and a corrective for her outdated perspectives. With a wonderful assortment of eye-opening, moving stories from a diverse group of writers, the book is a joy to get lost in. Truly a celebration of sexually liberated women—of all backgrounds, ages, and orientations."
"A refreshing and relevant update to a classic, featuring some of my favorite working writers today."
"A wide-ranging, life-affirming collection."
2022-02-08
A collection of contemporary writers revisit and revamp the 1962 classic.
“In the 1960s, Helen taught single women how to game a system that wasn’t built for them,” writes Brooke Hauser, author of Enter Helen: The Invention of Helen Gurley Brown and the Rise of the Modern Single Woman (2016). “In 2022, most of us can agree that the solution isn’t gaming the system but changing it to work for all women—not just those who are white, single, straight, and cisgender.” Smith and Swanson curate accounts of sexual experiences from a diverse group of women, all of whom seem willing to help change the system—or at least the way we talk and think about singledom. Each essay offers a unique perspective, though some readers may wish for an ever broader representation in regard to the contributor’s ages and locations. Among the most outstanding pieces are Kate Crawford’s “Second Coming,” in which the author, who was 15 when Sex and the Single Girl was released, examines how she is trying to rediscover herself, declaring that she is “resuscitating my sexy sixties campaign”; and Evette Dionne’s “Just the Beginning,” about how the journalist and critic “learned over the years that there’s nothing lonely about being single.” Other profound discussions involve sexual aggression and assault in the queer community—writes Kristen Arnett: “Our (sexist) cultural assumptions that women are less aggressive than men, that they’re ‘safer’ to be around, has meant a total lack of discussion about the problems that occur when boundaries are crossed”—and themes of both friendship and trauma are threaded throughout the collection, which is mostly respectful to its source material but unafraid of calling out many of its outdated notions. Other contributors include Melissa Febos, Briallen Hopper, Samantha Allen, and Morgan Parker.
Coyness need not apply as writers of different identities and backgrounds share their experiences of singledom.
