Book overview
What do we learn about sex if our teacher is porn?
What is the difference between entering and being entered?
What haunts us in the wake of childhood abuse?
Porn Tales & Sex Demons eavesdrops on a psychotherapist's consulting room as 23-year-old Evan-raised in an abusive, hyper-sexualized environment and stuck in self-punishing behaviours-and Seb, nearing 30-babied and coddled by his parents and tortured by a numbing dread that he might be "gay"-struggle with their sexual concerns. Both have been watching porn since they were preteens. Bailey, their queer therapist, worries that porn distorts erotic fantasies, dilutes confidence, and blocks them from seeing others as more than just body parts.
Bailey attempts to make sense of the distressing stories of childhood sexual abuse, shame, rape, and porn use, but doubts their competence to work in this tricky area. By facing their own sexual demons, Bailey steers Evan and Seb back towards their genuine sexual impulses, helping them frame their gender identities and own their desires.
Written entirely in dialogue, notes, and journal entries, this daring and unusual "novel-of-voices" explores, frankly and sensitively, the mess of sexuality that we all participate in and the joy-crushing trauma that so many of us carry with us.
What is the difference between entering and being entered?
What haunts us in the wake of childhood abuse?
Porn Tales & Sex Demons eavesdrops on a psychotherapist's consulting room as 23-year-old Evan-raised in an abusive, hyper-sexualized environment and stuck in self-punishing behaviours-and Seb, nearing 30-babied and coddled by his parents and tortured by a numbing dread that he might be "gay"-struggle with their sexual concerns. Both have been watching porn since they were preteens. Bailey, their queer therapist, worries that porn distorts erotic fantasies, dilutes confidence, and blocks them from seeing others as more than just body parts.
Bailey attempts to make sense of the distressing stories of childhood sexual abuse, shame, rape, and porn use, but doubts their competence to work in this tricky area. By facing their own sexual demons, Bailey steers Evan and Seb back towards their genuine sexual impulses, helping them frame their gender identities and own their desires.
Written entirely in dialogue, notes, and journal entries, this daring and unusual "novel-of-voices" explores, frankly and sensitively, the mess of sexuality that we all participate in and the joy-crushing trauma that so many of us carry with us.
