In February of 1994, I, along with many other horny college students around the nation, was fascinated by an Esquire article documenting "feminists who don't hate sex!" Lisa Palac had one of the more memorable lines as she attempted to describe the appeal of S/M; she called for her men to "degrade me when I ask you to." Obviously, this was not your average pundit, a fact emphasized by her résumé: co-founder of Future Sex magazine, producer of the Cyborgasm CD series and now author of an excellent memoir, The Edge of the Bed. Palac relates her upbringing, revisiting her Catholic childhood, her parents' loveless marriage and her subsequent attempts at establishing romantic relationships in the stormy sexual climate of San Francisco, all with an energetically bouncing prose and a self-deprecating gift for the dramatic. Along the way, she finds time to state her views on pornography, cybersex, and sexual honesty, drawing you into her life with a magnetic charisma. She writes with a modern voice, one capable of tackling thorny issues with intelligence, irreverence and humor while reading like a lively bar conversation. It is a life worth reading, and, with only 35 years behind her, one hopes there will be plenty more to come.
This review originally appeared in The Weekly Alibi.
© Todd Meigs
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