Three Women

Taddeo writes a timely book that attempts to respond to the #MeToo movement by bringing women’s bodies, their sexualities, and their experiences to the forefront. It came about when journalist Taddeo, who spent years writing for Esquire and New York magazine, began an eight-year journey of interviewing women so she could tell female-centered stories of desire. Unfortunately, Taddeo’s style leaves something to be desired in terms of objectivity and authenticity. The author explains that she’s removed herself from all but the prolog and epilog, yet each chapter is filled with interpretations, assumptions, and authorial intervention. Some of her casual phrasing about how someone is not “the type of woman to take pleasure in” street harassment will rankle readers familiar with feminist theory. Audiences interested in works about women’s sexuality may find the three stories gathered here compelling. But Taddeo’s use of second-person narration in the chapters on these women mixed with more journalistic writing feels more like a tabloid than a true excavation of her subjects’ lives.