Reviews for America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction

The average rating for America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-03-10 00:00:00 Thabang Mafohla Brian Alexander, a columnist, goes off to explore the sexual scene across America. He's thorough, dipping into several areas and getting many points of view. Some scenes are very sexually graphic, so if that bothers you, don't read this, you won't be happy with it. Alexander gets viewpoints from sex workers, BDSM people, swingers, Christian speakers, and many others. He sees a lot, and is occasionally uncomfortable. It's an interesting study of people's viewpoints about the many different ways we approach sex. He had a lot of good thoughts. There were some things he seemed oddly dismissive of for reasons never explained. The book sort of more stopped than ended, if you see the difference. It's an interesting concept with some good work behind it, slightly flawed in execution, but readable. From the description I gave it and the cover pic, you probably already know if you're interested or not.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-08-19 00:00:00 Rodrigo Garcia Fernandez 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).