At the age of 32, Nona Willis Aronowitz's life and America as a whole were in shambles. Her union was breaking down. She was losing her immediate family. Both her heart and desire were on high alert. Her preconceived notions of what "sexual emancipation" meant were suddenly contested since she was caught up in a time of terror, reckoning, and reimagine-imagination Amide emotional and social upheaval, Nona sought solace in the writings of historical sexual revolutionaries, among them her late mother, the early radical pro-sex feminist Ellen Willis. Nona questioned herself, "What exactly do I want?" at a time when feminism and sex were more widely embraced than they have ever been. And given the horrors and lures of capitalism, white supremacy, and patriarchy, are my sexual and romantic desires even possible?
In Nona's quest to discover the solution, her need for real intimacy is juxtaposed against her family's history and other tales that date back nearly two hundred years. Stories of ambivalent husbands and unrepentant sluts, liberated lovers and outspoken lesbians, sensitive males and awake misogynists, and women who risk everything for sex-who purchase sex, refuse sex, and have awful sex and fantastic sex-are all included. As a result, sexual freedom is bravely, fearlessly, and vulnerable explored. In addition to exposing the successes and shortcomings of modern feminism, Bad Sex also sheds light on general issues of desire. It is Nona's path to sexual fulfillment and relationship fulfillment.