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What We Don't Talk About

Sex and the Mess of Life
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( 124 ratings, 20 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
What We Don't Talk About by JoAnn Wypijewski explores the complexities of cultural and social narratives surrounding issues often considered taboo or controversial. It delves into human behaviour and perceived morality, challenging readers to rethink widely held assumptions. The book intertwines philosophy and psychology to offer a nuanced perspective on how society discusses or avoids difficult subjects.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're interested in exploring the complexities of public scandals and moral panics through a philosophical lens. It delves into how society's preconceptions shape discourse and challenges the narratives that often go unquestioned.

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What We Don't Talk About

A searing indictment of modern sexual politics.

A searing indictment of modern sexual politics.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

What We Don't Talk About asks what if we took sex out of the box marked ‘special’, either the worst or best thing that a human person can experience, and considered it within the complexity of reality? In this extraordinary book, despite longstanding tabloid-style sexual preoccupations with villains and victims, shame and virtue, JoAnn Wypijewski does exactly that.

From the HIV crisis to the paedophile priest panic, Woody Allen to Brett Kavanaugh, child pornography to Abu Ghraib, Wypijewski takes the most famous sex panics of the last decades and turns them inside out, weaving together what becomes a searing indictment of modern sexual politics. She exposes the myriad ways sex panics and the expansion of the punitive state are intertwined.

What emerges is an examination of the multiple ways in which the ever-expanding default language of monsters and victims has contributed to the repressive power of the state. Politics exists in the mess of life. Sex does too, Wypijewski insists, and so must sexual politics, to make any sense at all.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

What We Don't Talk About by JoAnn Wypijewski is praised for its incisive essays that challenge conventional narratives surrounding sex abuse cases and societal views on sex and politics. Critics highlight Wypijewski's skill in unpacking complex issues with empathy, offering a fresh perspective that questions the simplification of these discussions into binaries of innocence and guilt. Her work is described as powerful and controversial, with a blend of forceful analysis and beautiful prose that explores the intersections of sex, power, and societal norms.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781788738507

Publisher: Verso Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 May 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Verso Books

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 20.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 262g

Pages: 320

About the Author

JoAnn Wypijewski is a writer and editor. She was an editor at The Nation magazine. She has also written for Harper’s, The New York Times Magazine, the Guardian, and other publications. She is on the editorial committee of the New Left Review. She was the co-editor with Kevin Alexander Gray and Jeffrey St. Clair, of Killing Trayvons.

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