Emily Nagoski, a sex educator and former researcher at the Kinsey Institute, explores the ways we experience pleasure in this now-classic read on the science of women’s sexuality. It’s a nonjudgmental look at sexual desire, backed by scientific research and data. As Nagoski explains: An orgasm doesn’t have to be elusive, and a fulfilling sex life doesn’t just boil down to what’s between the sheets.

 

Peggy Orenstein’s fascinating research reveals the tough reality of high school and college hookup culture through in-depth interviews with students, academics, psychologists, and a range of other experts who weigh in on the complicated nature of modern sex and relationships. It’s an incredibly eye-opening read for all adults with a stake in the next generation, particularly parents, of course—and teens, too.

 

An equally revelatory, expansive counterpart to Orenstein’s Girls & Sex, Boys & Sex is the culmination of more than two years of research and a hundred-plus interviews with boys between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two. And as in Girls & Sex, Orenstein manages to present the data in a style that leaps off the page.

 

From sex therapist and psychology professor Laurie Mintz, Becoming Cliterate makes the case for focusing on clitoral stimulation. While the book includes plenty of information about the clitoris—there’s the requisite anatomy lesson and helpful advice—the overarching theme is the gap between male and female sexual pleasure. Mintz’s approach to closing that gap is practical and illuminating.

 

Psychiatrist Stephen Snyder argues that mindfulness may be the biggest turn-on there is and that sexual narcissism isn’t only acceptable; it’s needed. Which seems like a radical approach to sustaining passion in a long-term relationship. But whether you’ve been married for twenty years or you’re in a swipe-right chapter, Snyder believes that the essence of good—rewarding, memorable, impassioned—sex is understanding our sexual selves.

 

Focusing on life outside of the bedroom, psychologist and sex researcher Lori A. Brotto takes a compassionate look at the different reasons we might suffer from various sexual difficulties. The most common yet somehow least talked about among them: a lack of interest. Brotto offers tools, in the form of easy exercises, for increasing desire and pleasure.

 

In her (highly anticipated) first book, journalist Lisa Taddeo immersed herself in the lives of three American women in different parts of the country for the better part of ten years. The result is an absorbing true story about sex and desire, trauma and longing, power and vulnerability, and the invisible forces that shape our sexuality. The writing is so poetic, it’s easy to forget it’s nonfiction. But we fell for Three Women because of the ordinary in it. We see ourselves in these women. Taddeo so gracefully reminds us that of course, we’re normal. We’re all normal.

 

Nicole Daedone, the creator of orgasmic meditation, explains the ins and outs of the practice—think of it as the yoga of sex—in this easy-to-use, step-by-step guide that doubles as a bible of female satisfaction (for women and men).

 

So what are we gonna read tonight?

 

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