Rating: 
Summary: "A pioneering work on sexual fantasies"
Review: "This first of Nancy's books of womens sexual fantasies was a landmark in liberating women from the sexual dark-ages.Despite its age it can still get the pulse racing and opens your eyes to things never dreamt of before.It also provides a fascinating insight into 70s womens fantasies.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd like to point out something...
Review: ...the little something that this book doesn't break any sexual repression. The feelings of 'fantasizing is wrong' are common to the whole mankind. Both genres. How can a standard psychological affair pass as social repression is beyond me. Yes, I have read the book.
Rating:
Summary: interracial relationships portrayed as beastiality
Review: As one half of an interracial marriage, I have become accustomed to purient inquiries such as "what's it like with a black woman?" Interracial relationships are frequently viewed as brazen explorations into forbiden sexuality, many finding it difficult to fathom two people of different races simply falling in love and enjoying a normal life together. Friday's book includes interracial sex in the section on beastiality! Perhaps giving us some insight into how she views such unions. This book is an vile insult to interracial couples and their children.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Pornography for the Middle Class.
Review: For years, I used erotica books as surrogate fantasy material, believing that I was incapable of fantasizing during sex, that I had no fantasies of my own and had to use other people's. Reading "My Secret Garden" changed my perception of myself drastically. Those horrid, disturbing thoughts that floated into my brain, that I would shove down quickly as "sick," were indeed fantasies. The brave women who contributed their fantasies and feelings showed me that even if what I was drawn to was "sick," it certainly wasn't uncommon.I am especially grateful to the women who commented on making the decision to share, or not share, their fantasies with their lovers. This was crucial for me. At a time when my thoughts were to be confessed on demand, I deprived my lover by depriving myself: those weren't fantasies, they were just random weird thoughts that made me uncomfortable. However, after getting out of a bad relationship and realizing that my mind was my own toy, I realized that I could explore those thoughts without fear of exposure to anyone but myself. One I allowed myself my own secret garden, I found that I could share with myself and my current lovers in a way that previous ones had tried to coerce out of me. Living well is indeed the best revenge, and I thank Nancy Friday for her subversive assistence. There are sections and chapters. Here's a listing of the section headings: Introduction: Twenty-Five Years in the Garden 1. "Tell Me What You Are Thinking About," He Said 2. "Why Fantasize When You Have Me?" 3. The House of Fantasy 4. "Where Did A Nice Girl Like You Get An Idea Like That?" 5. Guilt and Fantasy, Or, "Why The Fig Leaf?" 6. Fantasy Accepted 7. Quickies Afterword: "In Defense of Nancy Friday" by Martin Shepard, M.D., psychiatrist Along with fantasies submitted via taped interview and by mail, Friday includes her own analysis of the history of women's erotic nature, the era at the time of initial publication and the fantasies themselves. There's no bibliography and no footnotes; she mostly refers to any sources in her text itself. She's a good writer, whether I agree with her at each chapter or not. Written letters are kept in the style in which they were sent. Some of the women are amazingly articulate. Some of the letters are a painful read from a literary standpoint. But I think that enforces the idea that all of the submissions are genuine. People who are interested in this book simply as another erotica compilation may well be disappointed. This is an academic study of women's fantasies, and not a "best of" compilation. If anything, it's a compilation of what Friday observed to be most representative of her times. And a quarter of a century after its initial publication, it changed my life.
Rating:
Summary: I believed that I never fantasized.
Review: For years, I used erotica books as surrogate fantasy material, believing that I was incapable of fantasizing during sex, that I had no fantasies of my own and had to use other people's. Reading "My Secret Garden" changed my perception of myself drastically. Those horrid, disturbing thoughts that floated into my brain, that I would shove down quickly as "sick," were indeed fantasies. The brave women who contributed their fantasies and feelings showed me that even if what I was drawn to was "sick," it certainly wasn't uncommon. I am especially grateful to the women who commented on making the decision to share, or not share, their fantasies with their lovers. This was crucial for me. At a time when my thoughts were to be confessed on demand, I deprived my lover by depriving myself: those weren't fantasies, they were just random weird thoughts that made me uncomfortable. However, after getting out of a bad relationship and realizing that my mind was my own toy, I found that I could explore those thoughts without fear of exposure to anyone but myself ... and thus without shame. Once I allowed myself my own secret garden, I found that I could share with myself and my current lovers in a way that previous ones had tried to coerce out of me. Living well is indeed the best revenge, and I thank Nancy Friday for her subversive assistence. There are sections and chapters. Here's a listing of the section headings: Introduction: Twenty-Five Years in the Garden 1. "Tell Me What You Are Thinking About," He Said 2. "Why Fantasize When You Have Me?" 3. The House of Fantasy 4. "Where Did A Nice Girl Like You Get An Idea Like That?" 5. Guilt and Fantasy, Or, "Why The Fig Leaf?" 6. Fantasy Accepted 7. Quickies Afterword: "In Defense of Nancy Friday" by Martin Shepard, M.D., psychiatrist Along with fantasies submitted via taped interview and by mail, Friday includes her own analysis of the history of women's erotic nature, of the era at the time of initial publication and of the fantasies themselves. There's no bibliography and no footnotes; she mostly refers to any sources in the text itself. She's a good writer, whether or not I agree with her from chapter to chapter. Written letters are kept in the style in which they were sent. Some of the women are amazingly articulate. Some of the letters are a painful read from a literary standpoint. But I think this enforces the idea that all of the submissions are genuine. People who are interested in this book simply as another erotica compilation may well be disappointed. This is an academic study of women's fantasies, and not a "best of" compilation. If anything, it's a compilation of what Friday observed to be most representative of her times. And a quarter of a century after its initial publication, it changed my life.
Rating:
Summary: I'd like to point out something...
Review: I first read this book 25 years ago. It was the "Hottest" thing I had ever ever read. I was a mother of two young children. It was nice to know that other women had fantasies and that they were just plain fun and nothing to be ashamed of. I am 25 years past my shyness now but am glad to know the book is still in print.
Rating:
Summary: My Secret Garden
Review: I first read this book 25 years ago. It was the "Hottest" thing I had ever ever read. I was a mother of two young children. It was nice to know that other women had fantasies and that they were just plain fun and nothing to be ashamed of. I am 25 years past my shyness now but am glad to know the book is still in print.
Rating:
Summary: My Secret Garden
Review: I first read this book 25 years ago. It was the "Hottest" thing I had ever ever read. I was a mother of two young children. It was nice to know that other women had fantasies and that they were just plain fun and nothing to be ashamed of. I am 25 years past my shyness now but am glad to know the book is still in print.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare Find for the Sexually Intelllectual
Review: I first read this book on the shelves of my public library when I was still a teenager, and I'll NEVER forget that first rush. WOW - someone else actually has these ideas going through their head?! Mind you, that was 10 years ago. I've re-purchased the book many times over, because I keep on losing it or giving it away. This book is a fantastic combination of the psychology behind women's sexual fantasies and the actual fantasies themselves. I'll be honest - I haven't masturbated to these fantasies in years.. although I did constantly when I was still a teen. This book opened my eyes up to the 'taboo' of sexual fantasy, and helped me understand at a crucial time in my life that fantasy is healthy and a necessary part of anyone's life. I no longer have ANY sexual taboos.. and it's mostly because of this book.
Rating:
Summary: I guess I'm more exciting than I thought....
Review: I purchased this book hoping to get some new ideas, be inspired, enlightened, aroused, titillated...but no, none of the above. The only thing this book did was reassure me that this world is full of a lot of sexually repressed women and even more Jerry Springer-like trashy ho-bags. There was no sensuality here. Perhaps it's because most of the text was written by amateurs but good LORD. If I were writing something that I thought would end up in a book, I'd take more care to make it interesting. There's a distinct lack of imagination AND character in our society. This book makes that painfully obvious.
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