Skin: Talking About Sex, Class And Literature is a collection of essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

s written by award-winning author Dorothy Allison

Dorothy Allison

Dorothy Allison is an American writer, speaker, and member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.-Early life:Dorothy E. Allison was born on April 11, 1949 in Greenville, South Carolina to Ruth Gibson Allison, who was fifteen at the time. Ruth was a poor and unmarried mother who worked as a...

. Published in 1994, the book contains original essays as well as updated versions of essays that appeared in anthologies and magazines like New York Native, The Village Voice

The Village Voice

The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...

, and Forum. As the title suggests, Allison gives the reader her take on her difficult childhood, race- and class-based schisms within the lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 community, feminism

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

, pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

, sadomasochism, and the transcending effect that literature can have on children.

List of Essays

1. Context

2. A Question of Class

3. Never Expected To Live Forever

4. Gun Crazy

5. Shotgun Strategies

6. What Do We See? What Do We Not See?

7. Neighbors

8. Not As a Stranger

9. Sex Writing, the Importance and the Difficulty

10. Puritans, Perverts, and Feminists

11. Public Silence, Private Terror

12. Her Body, Mine, and His

13. The Theory and the Practice of the Strap-on Dildo

Dildo

A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...

14. Conceptual Lesbianism

15. Talking To Straight People

16. Femme

17. Sex Talk

18. Believing in Literature

19. A Personal History of Lesbian Porn

20. Myths and Images

21. Bertha Harris, a Memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

22. Survival Is the Least of My Desires

23. Skin, Where She Touches Me

24. Promises

Reviews

Sobriquet Magazine wrote: "In all, Skin: Talking about Sex, Class and Literature serves as a revealing and important work for scholars of working-class studies, feminism and gender politics, and queer theory...Allison’s collection is an interesting and personal look at the complexities of her identity formation, and the levels on which she engages each category of self is both honest and sometimes painful. What shapes Allison’s writing is not only her recognition of Self and need for Truth, but admittance to all facets of her identity." Publisher's Weekly noted that the book was "impassioned, personal and highly intelligent, Allison's collection of published writings and addresses examines issues of class and sexuality through the intricate lenses of autobiography and the literary experience."