''Forbidden Flowers'' by

Nancy Friday Nancy Colbert Friday (August 27, 1933 – November 5, 2017) was an American author who wrote on the topics of female sexuality and liberation. Her writings argue that women have often been reared under an ideal of womanhood, which was outdated an ...

is a book which explores women's

sexual fantasies A sexual fantasy or erotic fantasy is a mental image or pattern of thought that stirs a person's sexuality and can create or enhance sexual arousal. A sexual fantasy can be created by the person's imagination or memory, and may be triggered aut ...

. It can be read as a feminist analysis of the development of women's fantasies against a background of

sexual liberation The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the ...

, or simply as a series of candid, erotic fantasies. It is part of a series of three books beginning in 1968 with ''

My Secret Garden ''My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies'' is a 1973 book compiled by Nancy Friday, who collected women's fantasies through letters and tapes and personal interviews. After including a female sexual fantasy in a novel she submitted for ...

'', with this second book, its sequel, begun in 1973. It compares how the fantasies have changed over the five-year period, and notes women's reactions to the first book. A third book, '' Women on Top'', was published in 1991. In addition to this series, Friday has written a number of other books examining male and female sexuality. These are entitled '' My Mother/My Self'', '' Men in Love'', ''Jealousy'', and '' The Power of Beauty''.

The origins and uses of women's fantasies

''Forbidden Flowers'' is divided into two parts, the first part examining where sexual fantasies come from, looking at the influences of childhood and adolescence, women looking at men, and

sexual frustration Sexual frustration is a sense of dissatisfaction stemming from a discrepancy between a person's desired and achieved Human sexual activity, sexual activity. It may result from impotence, physical, human sexuality#Psychological aspects, mental, sex ...

. The second part looks at the uses of these fantasies, in daydreaming and masturbation, during sex, and making fantasies come true. Each of the eight chapters is illustrated by examples of fantasies from women who have written to Friday.

References

*''Forbidden Flowers'', Nancy Friday, Arrow Books, 1994 *''Women on Top'', Nancy Friday, BCA, 1991 Erotica Sexuality {{Sex-book-stub