| Abstract: | Reviews the book, A tired woman's guide to passionate sex: Reclaim your desire and reignite your relationship by Laurie B. Mintz (2009). Statistics bear it out: The most common sexual complaint that women have is low desire, and the most common reason that women cite is being too tired for sex. A tired woman’s guide is a thorough, research-based, cognitive– behavioral self-help program to help women not only revive their interest in sex but also be more assertive and take more time for self-care, which is sorely absent in the contemporary lives of women. Because the author has taken care to eliminate the crass language that is sometimes found in popular books about sexuality, it is a book that a psychotherapist or health care provider could easily recommend without fear of offending a female client of any age. The book is organized into nine chapters and is written in a professional and friendly manner that will appeal to the lay reader. Although the purpose of the book is to educate and motivate a lay audience, the book would be improved by having specific references to research included so that a psychotherapist unacquainted with the research in the field of female sexual health would be able to do further reading or research on the topic. Even a brief list of references to major studies would be preferable to none at all. Second, the book lays the blame for being “too tired” squarely on the woman’s shoulders. Much is made of the woman’s task of helping her partner understand how she feels and what she wants. Although this is a good ideal, it assumes that the male partner is receptive to feedback or will make the requested changes. Although the author recommends pornography made for women by a woman, it may still be a potential turnoff for some readers. Clinicians need to be prepared for a potential exploration of the topic should they recommend the book. Still, A tired woman’s guide to passionate sex is better than many books on the topic. Perhaps because Mintz is brave enough to admit to her readers that she, herself, was a woman too tired for sex at one time and needed to go on her own journey to recover her lost libido, the book works as an empathic companion to the woman who is puzzled by her own lack of drive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |
