Real Live Nude Girl - erotic fiction by Cleis Press Inc. - review by Jul!a

Real Live Nude Girl is written by Carol Queen, who has also authored Exhibitionism for the Shy and The Leather Daddy and the Femme. She's been an activist since the mid 1970's and has not only worked as an AIDS educator, she also has a doctorate in sexology.

There are four main sections: Real, Live, Nude, and Girl, that are each made up of a selection of essays totaling 205 pages.

Real seems to focus strongly on sex positivity in just about every manner. Carol's journey into becoming a whore (in a letter she wrote to her mother after she had passed away), her embracing the fact that she loved sex, becoming a lesbian, and then embracing the fact that she also enjoyed sleeping with men as well. Bisexual Perverts Among The Leather Lesbians talks about how much she loves crossing lines, and how she had to reconstitute herself as a bisexual lesbian.

Live delves into exhibitionism, voyeurism, and her journey to being comfortable with it all. From Carol's days as a peep show girl to how she shed her 'shy' skin and started not only attending safe sex and jack-off parties, but also throwing them, meeting "the poster child of kink" Bob Flanagan and performing on stage with Annie Sprinkle.

Nude tells us how Carol gets desensitized to porn in her sexology class, and even "fucks" with Madonna, wondering if she'll be able to maintain her sexual edge as a parent and then goes on to talk about her feelings on Madonna's book "Sex". She tells us about safe words and safe sex and why she volunteers to let doctors practice pelvic examinations on her.

Girl praises going against the norm, with Carol telling us why she loves butch women and gracing us with her own tales from the sex shop. She explains to us why she loves being spanked and talks about being a female submissive and still being able to do what you damn well please.

No matter which section you choose to start with, every essay reads like an interesting lecture, for lack of a better word. Never at any point does Carol make you feel as though she's better than you in any manner because of all her exploits and self-discovery. Go ahead girls and boys, be boys and girls!

Real Live Nude Girl looks like your basic paperback book. 8 1/2" by 5 1/2", about an inch or so thick with the same laminated cardstock cover you see on many paperback books. With extreme abuse such as living permanently in a bookbag or backseat of a car, it might not last very long. But under normal conditions, expect a long life span.

As far as how discreet it is, the front does say "RealLiveNudeGirl and Chronicles of Sex-Positive culture" and features a woman posed with her back to us and her legs spread for someone on the other side of the shot. If you're squeamish, get a cover, but otherwise it's not all that risque.

I had never read anything by Carol Queen before, let alone even heard of her. So when I first got this book, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I mean, I'm all about sex positivity and all, so this had to be a great book, right?

Well it's certainly not a bad book. Everything's really well written and nothing makes you feel as though she's trying to be better than you in any manner. I just had a hard time getting into the book at first, although this had much more to do with my ADD than the book itself. It was a really great read, and I found it all very interesting once I could sit myself down and make myself focus on just reading and nothing else. My fiance has flipped through a few of the essays as well and he's enjoyed everything he's read as well.