This flies in the face of the growing evidence that sexual identity is something determined long before a child is even born. If you are a reader that is easily put off by vivid descriptions of sexual acts and if issues like Oedipus complex unsettle you, then I would not advise it. The only ones who did were men in analysis, which already sets up a situation in which the result is going to be skewed if they are viewing their fantasies from the standpoint that there is something wrong with what they desire. NANCY FRIDAY is the author of eight books: MY SECRET GARDEN, FORBIDDEN FLOWERS, JEALOUSY, MEN IN LOVE, MY MOTHER/MY SELF, WOMEN ON TOP, THE POWER OF BEAUTY and OUR LOOKS, OUR LIVES.

Other people who are also reading this book for the psychological insights, for whom it does nothing to read 200 times about Peg A going into Hole B, may want to consider this approach. No man in this book says, "My wife likes this, so I often fantasize about it because I love how much pleasure it brings her," while very many men say, "I wish my wife would like this" or "I wish my wife would do this. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

Men in Love goes beyond the socio-sexual cliché of woman seen as either madonna or whore to reveal the conflict of love and rage at the centre of men's emotions and erotic desires. Another fascinating aspect of fetishistic thinking is the extraordinary amount of detail connected to the object. A guy might get off on these fantasies, but personally reading the stories was not something I found to be a turn-on.

I go back to this book time and time again, not to turn me on, but to give me a deeper understanding of male sexuality. Thinking about doing sex acts with people is just not a mental world I live in, and this book made me grateful for it - but it was interesting that many men's minds are so consumed by such simple, uninsightful, nonproductive behaviors. Nancy Friday, better known for her writings on female sexual fantasies, turns her attention to the opposite sex in Men in Love. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my guy to read this but I did manage to lend it out to a male friend and I'll be interested to hear his take on the book. It definitely does seem from the stories themselves that early experiences can have a profound impact on a man's sexuality, but I don't think EVERY sexual preference, mainstream or kinky, relates back to childhood.There an identity IS comprised of the actions and environment in which it was formed from childhood on, not something pre-given, and this skews the whole take on homosexuality that her book offers to the reader. Even these fantasies, in a twisted way, were usually still focused on the woman's consent and pleasure.