I can’t help it- I am a grown woman who likes my smut. It’s not a new phenomenon. It started when I was young and more than a little curious about sex. I  happened upon some forbidden books among my Dad's book collection and of the so-called “dirty” books, “My Secret Garden” by Nancy Friday became my absolute favorite, even though it has no pictures.

In 1973, Nancy Friday was one of the first women to explore the somewhat taboo idea and “strange belief” that women actually had sexual fantasies.  “My Secret Garden” is a collection of fantasies as narrated by women themselves in peculiarly named chapters, most of which are not politically correct. the most offensive of which is probably “Big Black Men”. Another intriguing chapter is “The Fetishists”, in which “Faith” describes her fascination with urine and describes herself as a “urolegenic”, which is a term I’m not quite sure is used today.

In my personal copy of “My Secret Garden”, the anonymous author of “The Sensuous Woman”, “J” writes in the forward that perhaps that the most damaging part of the fantasies in the book to men was the fact that women would actually fantasize about having sex with someone other than their husbands.  Apparently, at that time, it  was considered a dangerous threat to a man’s sense of masculinity. “J” also warns that “The Secret Garden” is not a coffee table book and should be kept away from young people, which is advice my parents failed to heed. In the forward, “J” speaks highly of Nancy Friday, who he has never met, and talks about how many men were “sexually inspired” by the book.

As many of the women in the book described their sexual fantasies, it is apparent that a majority of the women  felt a sense of shame about both masturbation or even admitting that they had a fantasy life at all.  This, of course, was way before the days of the Internet and excruciatingly detailed sex columnists like Seattle’s very own Dan Savage; however, it still seems strange given the time the book was published, which was right after the so-called “sexual revolution” and right on the cusp of the “Swinging 70’s.”

I  hope that today’s women would be more free to explore their sexuality without a sense of shame. Even still, for those curious about a peek into real women’s minds from the 70’s, I would definitely recommend this, as long as you keep it firmly in your mind that it is still smut.