''My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies'' is a 1973 book compiled 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 Her writings argue that women have often been reared under an ideal of womanhood, which was outdated an ...

, who collected women's fantasies through letters and tapes and personal interviews. After including a female sexual fantasy in a novel she submitted for publishing, her editor objected, and Friday shelved the novel. After other women began writing and talking about sex publicly, Friday began thinking about writing a book about female sexual fantasies, first collecting fantasies from her friends, and then advertising in newspapers and magazines for more. She organized these narratives into "rooms", and each is identified by the woman's first name, except for the last chapter, "odd notes", which is presented as the "fleeting thoughts" of many anonymous women. The book revealed that women fantasize, just as men do, and that the content of the fantasies can be as transgressive, or not, as men's. The book, the first published compilation of women's sexual fantasies, refuted many previously accepted notions of

female sexuality Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sexual ac ...

. ''My Secret Garden'' was banned in the Irish Republic."Banned Publications", ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', Friday 19 November 1976 (pg. 4) A sequel, '' Forbidden Flowers: More Women’s Sexual Fantasies'', followed in 1975.

Chapter One: The Power of Fantasies Chapter Two: Why Fantasies? *Frustration *Insufficiency *Sex enhancement *Foreplay *Approval *Exploration *Sexual initiative *Insatiability *Daydreams *Masturbation *The lesbians Chapter Three: What do women fantasize about? *Anonymity *The audience *Rape *Pain and masochism *Domination *The sexuality of terror *The thrill of the forbidden *Transformation *The earth mother *Incest *The zoo *Black men *Young boys *The fetishists *Other women *Prostitution Chapter Four: The source of women's fantasies *Childhood *Sounds *Women do look *Seeing and reading *Random associations Chapter Five: Guilt and Fantasy *Women's Guilt *Men's Anxiety Chapter Six: Fantasy accepted *Fantasies *Fantasies that should be reality *Acting out fantasies *Sharing fantasies Chapter Seven: Odd notes

The play

In 2009, the book was adapted into a full length stage play ''Multiple O: Women on Top''. Playwright

John Sable John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

chose ''Women on Top'' (another book by Nancy Friday) as the play's title largely due to its more provocative connotation.

References

1973 non-fiction books Non-fiction books about sexuality Book censorship in the Republic of Ireland {{sex-book-stub

Contents

See also

The play

References