'Insanely readable! I loved it' Slavoj Zizek

A delightfully thought-provoking study of why we have sex, from award-winning psychoanalyst Darian Leader

'It was just sex...'
It's a familiar claim. But it's also an impossibility, as Darian Leader shows in this delightfully thought-provoking study.
Our bodies aren't just sticks that make fire when you rub them together, and our minds don't simply stand by - as we can see from the pain, heartache and regret that so often accompany the highs of sexual excitement.
As acclaimed psychoanalyst Darian Leader argues, with his trademark clarity, energy and wit, sex is always about so much more than itself - it's about phantasy, anxiety, guilt, revenge, violence, love. Drawing on his long analytic experience, historical research and case studies to explore their importance to every aspect of our sexual lives, Leader brilliantly reveals what we are really thinking about when we think about sex - and what we are really doing when we do it.

'A thoroughly engaging and ever-illuminating read' iNews

'One of our most important contemporary thinkers' Guardian

'Leader is as much a philosopher as a psychoanalyst and his ideas are engrossing and enlightening' Metro

About the Author
Darian Leader is a psychoanalyst and the author of many books, including The New Black, What Is Madness? and Is It Ever Just Sex?. He practises psychoanalysis in London, and he is a founding member of the Centre for Freudian Analysis and Research and a member of the College of Psychoanalysts UK.

Reviews
Sensitively written and full of insight . . . Leader's examples are highly accessible . . . undoubtedly compelling * Sunday Times *
The revered psychoanalyst has penned a thoughtful book about our everyday sexual lives - and why there is no such thing as "just sex". With a convincing argument as to why it is so much more than that, this is a thoroughly engaging and ever-illuminating read * iNews *



Book Information
ISBN 9780241998168
Author Darian Leader
Format Paperback
Page Count 288
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 207g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 130mm * 17mm