LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE:
I know I’ve said this before, but I think today’s episode might be one of my favourite ever.
My guest today – author and essayist,
– has written four award winning books - Whip Smart, Abandon Me, Girlhood (which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in the states) and Body Work. She’s won too many prizes to mention here and her writing has appeared all over the place!In her mid thirties, after, let’s just say a pretty horrific two year relationship, Melissa decided to step away not just from sex, but love, relationships, intimacy in general. At first for three months, then six, then ultimately for a year.
Three months? Hardly a big deal, you might think. But for someone who’d been in one relationship or another since she was 15, it was the start of a long road to breaking a 20 year serial monogamy habit.
Soon she realised she was not just taking a break, but making a change. One that would affect not just her relationships with friends, family and lovers, but with herself, her work and the way she lived her life. The result is her new memoir, The Dry Season.
Melissa joined me to talk about that year of celibacy and what it taught her about independence, creativity, sexuality and above all herself. We also discussed shaking off the soup of sexual prescription, the happy ever after narrative, women’s celibacy in history, sexual fluidity in midlife and why she’s obsessed with the TV detective Vera!
Listen to the full episode here:
Interested in finding out more about the books recommended by the guests on The Shift podcast? Visit The Shift bookshop to see a full list.
• If you enjoyed this episode, you might like to know that there are over 240 more episodes, all free to listen. Here are a few you might like:
* A note: this post contains affiliate links, which means that a very small percentage of any sale goes to help fund The Shift. If it’s orange (or underlined if you’re reading in the app), it links! (But not all orange/underlined links are affiliates…)
Share this post