Sex Outside the Lines: Authentic Sexuality in a Sexually Dysfunctional Culture

TV host (Bad Sex), sexologist, and sex therapist Donaghue challenges American's attitudes about sex. For Donaghue, there is a "sex hating narrative" that defines how we discuss sex, police "normal" sex through medical and therapeutic practices, perpetuate limited and forced constructions on relationships, and enforce gender conformity or binary conceptions for one's biological sex; instead, consensual sex is the acceptable boundary, anything further is sex negative. This provides a welcome positive perspective on sexual behaviors. However, the author raises important questions that are never clearly addressed, some of this owing to his postmodernist bent. For example, he deemphasizes the possible physiological causes to sexual dysfunctions in order to criticize the medical and therapeutic communities' sexual normativity judgements about those conditions—this criticism is valid. What isn't made apparent is what role physiology plays in sexual dysfunction and what part scientific discourse has in informing us about sexuality overall.