Too Darn Hot: Writing About Sex Since Kinsey

The publication of Alfred Kinsey's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male fifty years ago signaled the beginning of new era of sexual freedom. Sex entered the popular culture as never before, and the arts, especially literature, were invigorated by this new openness. Too Darn Hot gathers together fiction, poetry, memoir, and essays, as well as cultural artifacts -- advice columns, personal ads, sex and marriage manuals, and even part of the Bible -- to give a personal voice to Kinsey's findings. They span the decades from the fifties to the present, offering highlights of the Beat era and the Sexual Revolution, the Women's Liberation movement, the burgeoning Gay Rights movement, and other challenges to traditional society, whether individual or collective. Among the authors are Dorothy Allison, Philip Appleman, Chrystos, Junot Diaz, Diane di Prima, Mary Gaitskill, Mary Gordon, James Earl Hardy, Scarlot Harlot, Alan Helms, Herbert Huncke, Erica Jong, Jenifer Levin, Audre Lourde, Richard McCann, J. D. McClatchy, Sharon Olds, Lisa Palac, Philip Roth, Lloyd Schwartz, Alice Walker, and Andy Warhol. Also included are a never-before-published conversation between Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs; the first Playboy editorial by Hugh Hefner; Leviticus 18; a Dan Savage column; a round-table discussion with teenagers about their sexual habits and attitudes...and more. The forty-seven pieces collected range from erotic to outrageous; from painful to lighthearted. Many are deeply reasoned; a few may be controversial. Each one is well-written and engaging, and makes a contribution in a thoughtful and unexpurgated manner to the public discussion that Kinsey began.