Hooking Up: A Girl's All-Out Guide to Sex & Sexuality

Madison, author of a popular sex column in the Tufts University newspaper, offers candid answers to questions young girls feel uncomfortable asking parents or teachers. Madison realizes she was lucky to grow up in a home where sex was discussed openly, but saw many of her friends without resources when it came to sex education beyond the old condom on the banana in health class. Now, at age 22, Madison is still young enough to remember what it was like as a young girl, but experienced enough to offer advice for real-life sexual situations. Sex-positive, empowering and very funny, Madison writes in chatty prose, without eschewing fact or medical accuracy. Starting with the basics ("Vaginas: What the Hell?") she covers menstruation, STDs and birth control before moving onto more complicated issues like how to handle a guy who complains about wearing a condom, what to expect when you do it for the first time and what exactly constitutes a rape. Sensitive issues are approached with humor and realism: when is the right time to lose your virginity? what do guys really think about relationships? what if you find yourself attracted to another girl? This is the book you wish you'd had as a teenage girl. (Sept.)