Unscrewed Women, sex, power, and how to stop letting the system screw us all

As the editor of Yes Means Yes! and host of the podcast Unscrewed, as well as the founder of the nonprofit Women, Action & the Media, Friedman has played a critical role in challenging sex-positive feminism means and how difficult it is to disentangle healthy sexuality from cultural practices that result in objectification and victim blaming. In her new book, Friedman employs tactics similar to the ones Andi Zeisler uses in We Were Feminists Once to marry theory, politics, activism, and pop culture in a way that is simultaneously conversational and polemical. For readers who share Friedman's take on sexuality, her use of the phrase "We the fauxpowered" will invoke a sense of shared experience. The term links together many of the pivotal concepts of this volume: the interlocking relationship between sex, contemporary politics, popular culture, and feminism. VERDICT While Friedman makes a convincing argument of the need for more intersectional feminism, some readers may find her language at times too polarizing to pay attention to the solid points she makes about double standards, especially as the relate to sexuality in conjunction and power.—Emily Bowles, Univ. of Wisconsin Coll. and Extension, Madison Copyright 2017 Library Journal.

"From a leading feminist journalist, a searing investigation into the state of sexual power in America, and how to make real progress toward equality"--

Argues that the anxiety and fear women feel about their sexuality is directly related to today's toxic culture, which the author explains is fraught with illusionary sexual empowerment, but no actual power, for women.

"What bestselling authors like Sheryl Sandberg and Brigid Schulte have done for women's work lives, Jaclyn Friedman does here for women's sexuality: spark a culture-wide rethink about what's accepted as normal, urging us all to try for something better. Not only that: she does it with warmth, irreverence, and candor reminiscent of Roxane Gay in Bad Feminist, and the fiery conviction of her own co-edited anthology Yes Means Yes! In Unscrewed, Friedman reveals that the anxiety and fear women in our country feel around issues of their sexuality are not, in fact, their fault, but instead are side effects of our toxic culture. Dubbed the "era of fauxpowerment," that culture gives women the illusion of sexual power, with no actual power to support it. Exploring where media, religion, politics, and education overlap with feminist issues, Unscrewed breaks down the causes and signs of fauxpowerment, then gives readers tools to take it on themselves"--

An irreverent survey of the realities of modern sexual politics explains that the anxiety and fear women feel about their sexuality is directly related to today's toxic culture, which the author explains is fraught with illusionary sexual empowerment, but no actual power, for women. 10,000 first printing.

An urgent account of sexual politics, feminism, and the rules of power in America-and a potent vision for the way forward As a veteran feminist and agenda-setting sex educator, Jaclyn Friedman is on the frontlines of the war for equity between the sexes. In Unscrewed, Friedman brings her sharp expertise and incisive observations on the state of sexual politics to the fore, sparking a culture-wide rethink about sex, power and what we accept. With reportage and verve, Unscrewed builds a searing investigation into the state of sexual power in America, and outlines how to make real progress toward equality. Friedman reveals that the anxiety and fear women in our country feel around issues of their sexuality are not, in fact, their fault, but instead are side effects of what she calls our "era of fauxpowerment," wherein women have the illusion of sexual power, with no actual power to support it. Exploring the fault lines where media, religion, politics, and education impinge on our intimate lives, Unscrewed breaks down the causes and signs of fauxpowerment, then gives readers tools to take it on themselves.