Challenge of the Heart: Love, Sex, and Intimacy in Changing Times Book

Alexander takes a look at the sexual activities and viewpoints of "typical" Americans. He begins by spending time with a fundamentalist preacher, co-hosting Passion Parties with a midwestern wife and mom and works his way up to working at a sex shop in Arizona and watching a BDSM (if you don't know, don't ask me) porn being filmed.

Alexander maintains his detached reporter-ness throughout, which keeps the book from feeling lewd in some its descriptions (although it should probably have an NC-17 rating!) but somehow maintains an honest frankness that is sorely missing when this topic comes up. Alexander is not afraid to admit that some things really are weird, that there were times he felt uncomfortable (but not at what you may think), and shares his unexpected relevations with the reader. For example, what if nothing was taboo? Deep down are we just lonely and using sex as a way to make connections and feel a sense of belonging? One of the more interesting ideas explored was that as America pushes the sexual envelope and things that were once taboo become more mainstream, will there eventually be a point when nothing shocks us anymore? I also appreciate the seeming paradox of the rise of the religious right versus the apparent relaxing of American's sexual standards - and who really knows what others are doing behind closed doors?

Overall, an interesting, if slightly provacotive, look at America's sexual proclivities with some interesting juxtapositions of what many claim to actually be doing (or not doing, in some cases).