The Whole Lesbian Sex Book: A Passionate Guide for All of Us

dedicated.

Preface to the Second Edition

SINCE PUBLICATION OF THE WHOLE LESBIAN SEX BOOK, I have heard from many, many women. I’ve received emails from sapphic novices (I was able to feel confident when I was making love to my very first girlfriend…) and seasoned leatherdykes (Hey, I may have been ‘out’ and in the BDSM scene, too, for ten years now, but I still use your book as a valuable reference and as a sorta dyke bible). I’ve heard lovely stories of sexual awakening (My partner came out last year, beautifully and skillfully at the age of 61!) and sexual adventuring (I once told my girlfriend I wanted to try a threesome, so she talked about it to a really good friend of ours, and one day…).

All of the women I heard from were grateful to have a sex guide written just for us—and packed with information and suggestions, and, as one woman wrote, inspiration, affirmation, and illumination.

And they weren’t shy with requests for more, either—more research, more information, more topics covered, and more support and encouragement in their sexual aspirations for themselves and their partners.

Many of them participated in my new research. In January 2004, I posted notices on Internet bulletin boards and email discussion lists inviting lesbian, bisexual, and queer women to participate in a new survey on sex and partnership. Nearly two thousand women requested my explicit, lengthy questionnaire.

Research on lesbians and sexual partnership usually focuses on how often we have sex, what activities we engage in, and how personal issues like childhood trauma, sexual assault, and homophobia play out in our adult relationships.

This edition of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book offers a new way to look at our sexual partnerships. We know we have sex and that we hold dear a longer list of sexual proclivities than could ever fit on a survey form—this book offers proof of that. And we know that harm done to us—including the all-pervasive homophobia so many of us live with now—challenges our sense of ourselves as vital sexual beings.

Really, we don’t need a research grant to figure that out. What we want to know is this:

How can we, as lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, create sexual relationships that really excite us and enliven us, and maintain sexual energy and heat over the long haul?

This updated second edition answers that question with guidance and practical suggestions based on the experiences of the more than 200 women who completed my questionnaire. Their commitment to sexually fulfilling relationships is truly inspiring.

The most important thing is this: You can have great partnered sex. Whether you have one partner or several, you can have ongoing, intimate sexual connections that expand and deepen over time.

What’s new in this edition? Along with the new chapter on sex and partnership, there is much that’s new. You’ll find specific information on facing and healing triggers from sexual trauma, and achieving sexual pleasure even during depression (and what to do about the sexual side effects of SSRIs). Perimenopause and menopause, Tantra and orgasm, herbal supplements to support libido, sexual partnering during gender transition (with quotes from partners of both FTMs and MTFs), and sexual health (including gynecological care for butches)—it’s all here. Plus new sex toys, Internet pay porn for us, all new illustrations, and a completely updated bibliography, videography, and resource section.

You can have great partnered sex. Whether you have one partner or several, you can have ongoing, intimate sexual connections that expand and deepen over time.

I would love to hear from you. Please send me your feedback on this book and your ideas for future editions. If you’d like to be included in research on the next edition of this book, please let me know. You can write to me: [email protected].

Here’s to great sex—for all of us—and a life filled with deeply satisfying erotic pleasure.

Felice Newman

San Francisco

October 2004

Introduction

I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED WOMEN. I’ve known I was a lesbian for as far back as I can remember. As a little girl, I had dreamy crushes on older girls. My mission was to insinuate myself into the lap of the nearest teenaged girl—and never leave.

I emerged as a tomboy, challenging boys to their own games and resisting the efforts of family members to squeeze me into a female gender that pinched and suffocated and just didn’t fit. In high school, I ran with a pack of boys and gazed longingly at the smart girls in my class. To evoke their gaze in return was my highest aspiration.

From my earliest memories, desire for women has fueled my life. I savored small attentions and imagined complicities, accidental touches that led to burning kisses, and finally, sex. Sex with women drives my passions like nothing else. I have had sex with many women, and I have been blessed with lovers who offered up their desire with raw courage and lust.

What Makes Me an Expert?

I’m not a social scientist, therapist, or health-care worker. I’m a lesbian who has spent many years learning about sex. As publisher of Cleis Press, I’ve developed and edited books by many of our favorite sexperts—from Susie Bright to Annie Sprinkle. I’ve trained and served as a hotline volunteer with San Francisco Sex Information. Their 55-hour seminar in human sexuality is the most comprehensive course of its kind. I’ve spoken on the subject of lesbian sex to all sorts of groups—from teachers earning continuing education credits in Pennsylvania and students at a Christian college in suburban Minnesota to undergrads at the University of California at Berkeley.

But what makes me a lesbian sex expert is that I have devoted myself to erotic exploration. I treat my sex life as an adventure story that builds heat with each episode. I’m curious. Whom will I meet today? What will happen next? I seek abundance. Ample pleasure. Innumerable orgasms. Voluptuous moments bursting with erotic energy. I believe we all deserve as much erotic pleasure as life can offer—which is more pleasure really than you or I can conceive of.

I also believe we can teach each other how to have sex. After all, no one else will teach us.

No one ever told us how to be lesbians and bisexual women. No one offered a version of the birds-and-the-bees that spoke to us (Here is the clitoris. It engorges with blood when aroused and will become erect when caressed…). No one told us how to ask another girl on a date. Or how to give and receive sexual attention.

I, for one, could have used some guidance. There were years when I wasn’t happy with my sex life at all, but I didn’t know how to change my circumstances—or even what I might like. Because I hadn’t fully explored my own sexual responses, I didn’t know what kind of stimulation worked best for me. Instead, I worried that I was missing some vital ingredient, some secret understanding that others possessed.

Years passed. Like many other women, I had bought into the romantic myths about sex. I believed it was my partner’s job to give me orgasms and to figure out how best to accomplish that. I expected her to read my mind. At the same time, I believed that if I wasn’t happy, it was my fault.

My orgasms felt like appetizers—they left me hungry and restless. Sometimes it seemed to take forever to reach orgasm. I felt demanding and self-centered. I was impossible to please. On some deep level, I didn’t think I deserved sexual pleasure.

Like so many women, I wasn’t particularly skillful in talking about sex. Although I’m sure we had conversations about sex, I never told my partner of my fears of my own inadequacy. The thought of touching myself or using a dildo or vibrator during partner sex was out of the question. My relationships defined my sexuality. If my lover didn’t appreciate sex toys, then the toys stayed hidden in a drawer. Nor was I particularly imaginative in my fantasies—I had pretty fixed ideas about what was and was not OK for a feminist such as myself to get off on.

I felt stuck.

How On Our Backs Changed My Life

Really, it was my job at Cleis Press that cracked the ice cap. First, in the late 1980s, Frédérique Delacoste produced Sex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry, a book that blew the scalps off feminists on two continents. Sex Work made me nervous. If sex workers could stand up to centuries of social stigma to define their own sexualities—some even going so far as to say their work empowered their sex lives—then what the hell was my excuse?

Then Susie Bright, editor of On Our Backs, tore through what remained of my self-denial. On Our Backs appeared on the scene in the mid-eighties. Aimed at the sexually adventurous lesbian, it was the first lesbian magazine to feature explicit depictions of lesbian sex.

Everyone was talking about On Our Backs in those years. Many were shocked by the politically incorrect implications of lesbians posing for the sexual gaze. Others distanced themselves from the material by critiquing the writing style or production values. Many feminist bookstores refused to carry On Our Backs or kept it hidden behind the sales counter.

I stared at the images in those early magazines and read the stories over and over. I wished I felt so comfortable, so powerful, so confident in my erotic life. I suspected, however, that as with all pornography, this was pure hyperbole. No lesbian I knew lived like that, though secretly I wished they did.

But while working with Susie Bright on her collection of columns, Susie Sexpert’s Lesbian Sex World, I realized that what had seemed incredible to me was no big deal to her. In Susie’s world, lesbians engaged in vaginal fisting (which I didn’t think was anatomically possible!), had anal sex, visited lesbian strip shows, partied at sex clubs, and generally sparkled with erotic energy.

My imagination lit like a tinderbox on a hot afternoon. My complacency and resignation went up in flames, replaced by a broiling dissatisfaction.

I saw the parade passing me by—and I was angry! Enough so to take a hard look at my life and begin to make some changes. I felt awkward and self-conscious. It was like coming out all over again. Thankfully, I found supportive friends and lovers who shared with me their devotion to sexual exploration and personal growth. They prodded me to take risks and applauded my courage. With them, I could delve beyond gossip and nervous tittering to get to the nitty-gritty details of sex. How do you do that? What was that like? How can I do that, too? With their help, I found a language to encompass my own experiences.

I’ve never looked back. I now can converse easily about sex. I can and do ask for what I need from my partners. I have an active fantasy life—some of my fantasies I act out and some I prefer to remain fantasies. I know what kind of stimulation will best arouse me. I take responsibility for my sex life.

The Whole Lesbian Sex Book

I wrote The Whole Lesbian Sex Book so that you would have ample information and encouragement for creating the sex life of your dreams.

Aren’t there already lots of books about sex? Yes, and more are published every day. You’ve probably read horrific treatments of lesbian sex in mainstream sex guides. More recent guides intended for a general audience, however, do a much better job of representing lesbian sex. Still, we deserve a book of our own.

Often, lesbian sex guides are a bit fuzzy on the actual details of sex. Sapphistry, arguably the best of the lesbian how-to books, first appeared in 1979—it’s simply dated. Other guides focus on couples, or therapy issues, or brighten your coffee table while telling you very little you didn’t already know.

The Whole Lesbian Sex Book is a comprehensive, nonjudgmental guide to lesbian sex—this book won’t tell you who you should be or what you should think. You’ll find detailed how-to information on sexual techniques, understanding your own sexual responses, how to have G-spot orgasms, multiple orgasms, and extended orgasms—and much, much more.

During 1999, I developed a series of questionnaires about lesbian sexuality. The questions were very specific, extremely personal, and designed to elicit qualitative rather than quantitative responses. Many of the responses I received were quite explicit. In addition to a lengthy general questionnaire, I devised questionnaires aimed at lesbians and bisexual women who had survived cancer, as well as those who had viral STDs, such as herpes, HPV, hepatitis, and HIV. Posted on the Cleis Press website, the questionnaires were publicized on Internet mailing lists and in lesbian and gay publications internationally. I received more than 300 responses from 250 respondents (some filled out more than one questionnaire) —from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

Some women wrote pages on one question. Others reported that they had spent several hours on their replies. Some women wrote back with critiques of the questionnaire; in some cases their insights spurred me on to revise my questions. The candor and energy these women put into this project was remarkable. Their responses alone could fill volumes. You’ll find them quoted anonymously throughout the book.

Here’s to lesbian sex! May all your desires come true.

Felice Newman

San Francisco

chapter one

Welcome

LESBIANS LOVE SEX. We have sex with longtime lovers, crushes, ex-girlfriends, new lovers, fuck buddies, and groups of friends. We even have sex all by ourselves. We have soul-gazing sex, heart-melting sex, and sensual afternoons of bed-flooding sex. We have loud, sweaty, headboard-pounding sex that wakes the neighbors. We have screaming, multiorgasmic sex. We have edgy sex. We have sex.

Some of us have sex all along the gender spectrum. Queer through and through, we have sex with men who were born biological males, and men and women who are transsexual and transitioning, pre-op, post-op, non-op. Intersex, bisexual, pansexual, we fuck beyond the limits of gender.

Women have been sexual with other women for as long as human beings have existed. We have loved and desired each other in every culture and in every era. And though since biblical times we’ve often had to read between the lines to discover ourselves in history (Whither thou goest…), we continue to delight in the pleasures of sex with women.

You may have been led to believe that lesbians don’t have sex (we have caresses) or that we don’t have real sex (since two women can do anything a man can—until it comes to that last little detail¹). You may have read that women would rather cuddle than fuck (thanks to Dear Abby—or was it Ann Landers?), or that lesbian lovers suffer from Lesbian Bed Death. (Perhaps a trip to Ikea is in order?)

Conversely, you may have gotten the message that lesbians are the original connoisseurs of sex. We possess sapphic secrets refined through centuries of practice, handed down from mentor to novice. Did you know that entire lessons on lesbian eroticism were deleted from the original Kama Sutra? If we really do have such knowledge of female arousal and satisfaction, then we must be erased from history.

If you will come

I shall put out new pillows for you to rest on.

I was so happy

Believe me, I prayed that that night might be doubled for us

We shall enjoy it.

As for him who finds Fault, may silliness And sorrow take him!

SAPPHO

Sex between women has been envied, outlawed, hidden, packaged, glamorized, erased, pathologized, and obsessed over ever since woman discovered the clitoris. Yet women continue to desire each other.

There are as many ways to have lesbian sex as there are lesbian, bisexual, and queer women—and women who enjoy lifetimes of sex with women without ever once naming their desire.

Think of this book as a resource filled with information, suggestions, tips, and techniques to help you discover a sexuality that works for you.

This book is about sex shared between women. Whether you identify as lesbian, bisexual, or queer; butch, femme, or androgynous; traditionally gendered or transgendered—and even if you have just begun to consider the possibility that you, a woman, might desire sex with a woman—this book is for you.

chapter two

Desire and Fantasy

Fantasies, like dreams or myths, are ways we talk to ourselves about our most profound truths.

—DOSSIE EASTON¹

WHAT DO LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND QUEER WOMEN DESIRE from our women lovers? Well, just about everything you can imagine—and more. We want the fullness of a woman’s sex in our hands and our mouths and between our legs. We want to smell her arousal and drink our own juices from her fingers. We want to feel her breasts and taste her nipples.

We desire bountiful, luscious, mind-altering moments of pleasure. We nurture dreams we would never make real and dreams we would leap at the chance to fulfill—the hungry gaze of a stranger, the astonishment of a lover revealed in orgasm, bodies like and unlike our own, discovery, transformation, exposure, secrecy, need yielding to force, and need yielding to need. And then—with an unexpected touch, a glance of skin in a spill of light, humidity flavored by sex—we drown in memory.

What do you desire sexually? Do you want the same things today that you wanted ten years ago? One year ago? Last week? What turned you on at 12 may have seemed quite silly at 16, and what you liked at 16 may evoke little but nostalgia now. So why would you think that what heats you up now will suffice for the rest of your active sex life?

The inner voice of Eros is arbitrary, bizarre, impeccably honest, bountiful, and so powerful as to be cruel. It takes courage to hear its demands and follow them.

PATRICK CALIFIA

What desires do you allow yourself? Is it OK to fantasize about sex with a man? Sex as a man? Sex in the gender that lives most deeply within you? Is it OK for a survivor of violence to masturbate to rape fantasies? For an incest survivor to fantasize sex with siblings? Are you betraying your partner if you fantasize about other people? Her best friend, for instance?

Desire is a slippery beast. What actually stirs you to passion may bear little resemblance to what you say you want. Or what you think you should want. You may have no idea why a particular scenario makes your heart race. You need not understand or even approve of your desires. You can keep up with the latest theories in the popular press, but you’ll probably never really know why you desire women, or men, or both.

Your desires are uniquely yours. You have your own constellation of fantasies, needs, and turn-ons, plus your own history of sexual attractions and experiences. Your desires reveal who you are, where you came from, what’s important to you, what you yearn for, and what you fear. No good will come from attempting to mold your desire into something that looks like everyone else’s. Indeed, that’s the surest route to ending up with no desire at all. The key to developing a sexuality that will challenge and delight you is to bless every crazy twist and turn of your erotic imagination.

I am a huge exhibitionist. I wear transparent, lacy, laced-up things with bits of flesh exposed. Slits in my gowns that go up to here. I get a lot of attention….

What’s Your Fetish?

Are you turned on by six-inch stilettos? What about engineer’s boots polished to gleaming obsidian? Does an exquisite Victorian corset make your blood pound? Perhaps you work up a sweat over leather, lace, latex, rubber, or fur?

A fetish is an erotic attachment to an ordinarily nonsexual activity, inanimate object, or body part. What qualifies as a fetish is a matter of opinion. According to Freud, a fetish bears some relation to the normal sexual object but is entirely unsuited to serve the normal sexual aim—heterosexual procreative sex was what Freud had in mind.² By that definition, you could argue that all lesbian, bisexual, and queer women are fetishists, since we share an interest in erotic practices outside Freud’s normal sexual aim.

What may have seemed fetishistic to Sigmund Freud may be a staple of your erotic fare, and what seems exotic to you may be someone else’s sexual routine. Many people think of unusual sexual activities as kinky or fetishistic simply because they’re unfamiliar. (Conversely, Patrick Califia quips that much truly fetishistic behavior passes as normal because it has become so widespread no one notices it anymore. The heterosexual American male attachment to big breasts comes to mind.³)

Originally, a fetish was an object believed to have magical powers—for example, a small carved figure of an animal thought to heal or protect its owner. A fetish object was regarded with awe…as the embodiment of a potent spirit. ⁴ Thus, a strap-on dildo can be viewed as a fetish, in the classic sense of an object invested with erotic desire and power. Many butches and female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs) would disagree with that label, however. It’s not the dildo sitting on the shelf that exudes masculine erotic power; it’s who’s driving it that counts. For them, wearing a strap-on dildo represents an expression of their deeply held gender identity.

Fetishes can develop ritualistically around necessities like safer-sex practices. Snap on a latex glove in certain lesbian circles and watch the heads turn. Clothing reserved for erotic use is seen as fetishistic. Often fetish gear is too revealing to wear on the street—for instance, a body suit with a cut-out crotch. But not always—sometimes context creates the eroticism. A man who walks into a sex club attired in a business suit will seem out of place, and he may be asked to leave. A dyke in a suit and tie can breeze past the Fetish Gear Required sign, knowing she’ll be viewed as delightfully kinky. That same cross-dressing dyke may pass so well on the street that no one blinks an eye. Likewise, patent leather mary janes with little lacy anklets under a Catholic-schoolgirl plaid skirt won’t raise an eyebrow—until worn by an adult woman whose tight blouse reveals abundant cleavage.

Fetishes involving costume are perhaps the most widely known and practiced. Leather chaps, revealing lingerie, severe corsets, latex dresses, rubber hoods, and chain-mail chest harnesses are popular items of fetish gear. Many women have uniform fetishes and go to considerable effort to acquire authentic dress of soldiers, sailors, and cops—right down to the billy club. Uniform fetishists may or may not be exhibitionists.

Many women enjoy erotic practices such as spanking, bondage, and water sports (also called piss play or golden showers). A hot stream of urine splashing from one woman’s body onto another’s is an intense turn-on to many women. (To play safe, keep urine away from broken skin and the eyes and mouth.)

Body modification, such as tattoos, piercings, cuttings, branding, and scarification, holds deep significance for many. Some eroticize the experience of getting (or giving) a body modification; others are more interested in the result. You can think of genital shaving as a temporary body modification. The ritual of shaving one’s own genital area can heighten the anticipation of a hot date. Shaving a partner’s genitals can make for an exciting encounter. See Genital Shaving in chapter 10, Clitoral Play.

Once, we had sex in an airplane. We pulled the blanket up and she put her fingers in my cunt. I was coming quietly, high above New Orleans.

Whether you call your erotic interest a fetish or simply a turn-on is up to you. The point is that you feel free to develop your interests. Lesbian, bisexual, and queer women engage in many different fetish practices, more than could possibly be listed here. You can find organizations, books, magazines, websites, and online discussion groups devoted to a particular fetish. (See chapter 20, Resources.)

Run Wild

What if you just don’t know what you want? Many women come to sex with a frustrating sense of vagueness. Sure, your clit leaps to meet your partner’s desire—but on your own, you don’t know what you want. Even if you have a pretty good idea of what heats you up, embarrassment may keep you from fulfilling those desires. Worse yet, that cold stone of shame caught in your gut says you’re wrong no matter what you want. Or, you may despair over ever finding a partner whose desires will match yours. You haven’t met a likely candidate yet—so why bother? Like unpicked fruit, your fantasies might just as well wither and die on the vine.

The good news is that there is support for your desires—though finding it will take some creativity (and courage) on your part. (This book lists hundreds of helpful resources, for instance.)

Allow your imagination to run wild. Suspend judgment. Desires are not social contracts. You don’t have to act out your fantasies—unless you want to. Who cares whether your fantasies would rate high marks for cinematography or plausibility? The goal here is to find out what makes your juices run. Forget the political ramifications of your desires.

My legs become swan’s wings, and I see the wings lifting up out of the water.

Make Your Dreams Come True

The paradox, of course, is that to build sexual self-esteem, it helps to act as if you already have it. So, here are some suggestions to start you out:

What Do You Want?

• Listen your cunt. Desire is in your body. What makes your clit throb?

• Look to your fantasy life. What images pop into your mind during those unguarded moments on waking—or just before orgasm? Your own erotic imagination is a ripe resource for discovering your desires.

• Brainstorm. Grab pencil and paper and make three lists: (1) every sexual activity you’ve experienced; (2) every sexual activity you’ve heard about and think you might like to try; (3) every sexual scenario you’ve ever fantasized. Add to your lists as you come up with new ideas. Don’t worry about whether you’ll actually do these things—just write them down. (I tried this exercise with a group of women; it’s amazing how other people’s turn-ons can give you ideas.) See Erotic Play, later in this chapter.

• Keep a journal of your own erotic journey. You’ll be glad to have a record of your own sexual evolution. Who knows? You may end up in an erotica anthology someday.

• Read erotica. Collections of erotic short stories, such as the annual Best Lesbian Erotica series, are great resources for mining the erotic imaginations of 20 or more creative, articulate authors each year.

• Read sex guides. You’ll find informative, detailed descriptions of things others do or like or desire.

• Watch an explicit DVD or video. You may find porn to be a source of erotic inspiration. See Lesbian Porn, below.

Do Yourself a Favor

• Don’t feel as if you’ll ever have the sex life of your dreams? Then grant yourself one erotic pleasure every day—even a small one. Buy a current or back issue of On Our Backs. Check out www.Cyber-dyke.net and other queer porn sites (that’s real lesbian and queer porn—not the fake mainstream variety.) Try out your new pocket rocket vibrator at lunch time. Imagine sex with that new receptionist at the gyne’s office: First, I’ll get her into the exam room, then I’ll put her in the stirrups….

• Forbid yourself nothing is the rallying cry at Stormy Leather, a San Francisco fetish boutique. The creators of all those scrumptious fashion designs in latex and leather would certainly know. New clothes, a new sex toy, a fresh haircut, that tattoo or piercing you’ve always dreamed of…. Indulge yourself.

• Fantasize about things that delight you, things that frighten you, and things that powerfully turn you on. You can even fantasize about things that you find revolting. It’s fine to fantasize about people other than your lover or to fantasize outside your gender preference. You can fantasize about things you may not want to do. You can have nonconsensual sex in your fantasies.

• Declare a day of pleasure without guilt. For one day, imagine the unimaginable.

Find Support

• Find friends who will encourage you in your self-explorations.

• Ask for support. Be specific: I want to be more vocal about my desires. How did you get over your shyness?

• Sign on to a sexuality-related Internet discussion group. (See the resources chapter.) Ask the list members how they came to revel in their most compelling desires. (They’ll be glad someone sparked such a fascinating conversation.)

• Ask an expert. Websites like PlanetOut and ClassicDykes host expert opinion boards. (ClassicDykes is for lesbians and bisexual women in midlife and beyond, including women questioning their sexual orientation or coming out in later life.) Not only can you post a question, you can see what other women like you are curious about. You can also find lesbian sex advice columns in magazines like On Our Backs, Curve, and Girlfriends.

• You may be surprised to learn that many well-known sex-positive authors and artists started out just like you. They may have struggled just as painfully for self-acceptance. They may have been isolated, or shy, or criticized for their sexual choices. That’s why they’ve dedicated themselves to making the road easier for you. Check out the bibliography in chapter 19 for work by Tristan Taormino, Annie Sprinkle, Staci Haines, Loren Cameron, Patrick Califia, Kate Bornstein, Carol Queen, Susie Bright, and more.

• Ask your friends to tell you their hottest fantasies. Tell them yours.

Nurture Your Libido

Libido is sexual energy in its purest state—that feeling of wanting, regardless of what or who you want. Libido isn’t about how you look, the size of your toy chest, or who wants (or doesn’t want) to have sex with you. Your libido is your erotic life force, an intrinsic part of who you are. While you may identify many sources of your fantasies, you are the source of your desires.

Think of libido as something you practice—like playing the cello, meditating, yoga, or even shooting hoops. Not only do you gain sexual skills with practice, but you find that your capacity for sexual energy (and even sensation) expands. There are many ways to exercise your libido: masturbating, fantasizing, sensory awareness practices, giving a lap dance, going to a drag king show, keeping a sex journal, having sex with a partner, watching others having sex, viewing porn, reading erotica, talking about sex, planning for sex, and reading sex guides like this one.

Falling in love, of course, is the universal libido enhancer. Coming out can gear up your sex drive (and you can come out over and over, as you discover new ways to channel your erotic energy). Improved body image, self-esteem, and general health will make room for renewed sexual energy. Anything that expands what you allow yourself sexually will pump up your sexual energy.

Libido evolves over the course of a lifetime, ebbing and flowing in a rhythm that’s natural for you. Many women notice they feel particularly sexual just before or during their menstrual period.

Many female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs) report intensified libido once they begin testosterone injections. Similarly, some male-to-female transsexuals (MTFs) notice a reduction in sex drive with estrogen and anti-androgen therapy.

Pay Porn for Us

Pay porn is ubiquitous in the world of Internet porn. Until recently, lesbian pay porn meant girl-girl action on sites marketed to a heterosexual audience.

Pay porn sites operate on a membership basis. Usually, members are offered several membership plans, with options for one-time-only and recurring billing.

CyberDyke (The Erotic Network for Lesbians Only) hosts a network of sites featuring explicit photos and videos. DarkPlay is the best known of the bunch; others include: Playbutch, Shaved Dyke, Big Beautiful Heaven, Leaky Girls, Posteriority (for backdoor girls). Membership in the network provides access to all.

Heather Corinna, of Scarlet Letters, stars in her own pay site at www.Femmerotic.com. Both model and photographer, Corinna posts hundreds of beautiful erotic photographs, many by guest artists and guest models.The quality is a cut above many other pay sites offering erotic photography for lesbians and bisexual women.

Pregnancy is well known to affect libido. For some but certainly not all women, desire diminishes during pregnancy. Rachel Pepper writes, If you are one of those lucky women who feel more sexual during pregnancy or manage to maintain your normal sexual prowess, more power to you! However, for the vast majority…sexual desire tends to dip. ⁵ Physiological changes, exhaustion, and worry, that universal defeater of desire, can put the brakes on your sex life:

In my first trimester, I was so afraid of having an orgasm and dislodging the fetus that I would not let my partner sex me up.

After birth, estrogen levels drop, and prolactin levels rise (if the mother is breastfeeding), and sexual desire may take a dive. The impact of hormonal changes on a biological mother’s libido can’t be underestimated, sex educators Cathy Winks and Anne Semans write.⁶

Hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause affect libido—and not necessarily in the way you might predict:

For me at 44, and eight months after a hysterectomy (kept my ovaries), I’ve never been hornier or felt more erotic. I have always had a good sex drive, but WOW! This is one incredible chapter in my life. I’m still in shock.⁷

While hormones powerfully affect libido, they’re not solely responsible for all the dips and peaks in your sex drive. A study of 40-to-60-year-old women found that mood and energy, rather than hormone levels, were the best predictors of sexual well-being. ⁸ After all, many postmenopausal women have hot sex lives, and many premenopausal women notice no connections between their menstrual cycles and their desire for sex. (For more on this, see Perimenopause and Menopause, in chapter 3, Anatomy and Sexual Response.)

So to nurture your libido, nurture yourself. Top of the list: reduce stress. Overwork and stress affect libido more than we realize.

I think I have the tendency to overextend myself and am a bit of a workaholic. Over the last year or so, I have lost most of my desire for sexual contact, which is probably due to stress and fatigue.

I lose all desire and get very irritable if my girlfriend even tries to have sex with me. I just really need to relax before I’m able to even consider sex.

On the other hand, you might be able to channel that tension and irritability into an eruption of over-the-top fucking—which, by the way, is a great way to relieve stress.

Other ways to nurture your libido by relieving stress include meditation (even ten