'Absolutely vital reading' - Stylist
'Brave, searching' - Coco Mellors
'The book you didn't know you needed' - Roxie Nafousi
'Brilliant' - Times Radio
'I can't think of a single woman who won't read it and recognise anecdotes straight from the pages of her own life story.' - Glamour
Pleasure explores why so many women feel disconnected from their bodies and from sex, and what it takes to change that.
Part memoir, part cultural investigation, the book traces Emma-Louise Boynton's journey from being unable to orgasm and battling a years-long eating disorder, to rebuilding her relationship with sex, desire and intimacy.
The story begins in the sex therapy room, where Boynton first discovered that her struggle with bulimia was deeply entangled with her experience of sexual numbness. From there, Pleasure expands outward - drawing on expert interviews, cultural analysis and immersive research (including four days on a porn set) - to reveal that this rupture between women and their bodies is not a personal failure, but a systemic one.
From narrow ideals around desirability and sexist narratives about aging, to the policing of women's pleasure, and the emotional alienation of app-based intimacy, Boynton interrogates the forces that teach women to mistrust their bodies and perform rather than feel their pleasure.
Crucially, Boynton offers a clear and practical roadmap for rebuilding desire, confidence and connection. Provocative, intimate and timely, Pleasure reframes women's relationship to sex and embodiment, arguing that reclaiming pleasure is not indulgent, but essential.

- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Subtopic
Mental Health & WellbeingIndex
Social SciencesTable of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- Author’s Note
- Introduction: The Cool Girl and the Sex Addict
- 1. ‘The Door on the Female Mouth’
- 2. Sex and the Beauty Myth
- 3. The dictates of performed desirability
- 4. In pursuit of self-pleasure
- 5. Dismantle the sex myths that fuck you
- 6. How does a sexually liberated woman have sex?
- 7. Artificial intimacy in the digital age
- 8. Falling for a Greek God
- 9. The Sexual Healer
- Three Years Later
- 10. I stopped dating for the plot, then the plot thickened
- 11. In pursuit of pleasure for pleasure’s sake
- Acknowledgements
- Endnotes
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Yes, you can access Pleasure by Emma-Louise Boynton in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Mental Health & Wellbeing. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.