Ten Keys to Unlocking Ultimate Pleasure
February 28, 2005
The Berman sisters, coauthors of the bestselling For Women Only
, return with this more ambitious but less successful treatment of women's sexual pleasure and health. The doctors adopt a prescriptive writing style in their "mind-body approach" to the numerous influences on sexual satisfaction, including communication, self-esteem, emotional health, chronic diseases, arousal and orgasm problems, family upbringing, and social attitudes. The comprehensive range of topics aren't sufficiently addressed, however; many treatments leave readers feeling merely teased. For instance, while the authors suggest Kegel exercises, they don't provide instructions on how to perform them. They assert that many women don't achieve orgasm from intercourse, yet they fail to discuss oral sex in any practical sense. And while one might expect the doctors—Laura is a sex therapist; Jennifer is a urologist—to provide the most insight in the chapter on the various health problems that affect sexual function, this is one of the most disappointingly sparse parts of the book. Their National Women's Sexual Satisfaction Survey is by far the book's most original contribution, but the findings are awkwardly integrated into the text. While the Bermans' tone is woman-centered and sex-positive, this work is largely disappointing.