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Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden: Research Attesting to Women's Sexual Fantasies

© Alyssa Skye

When Nancy Friday published her groundbreaking book My Secret Garden in the early 1970s about the nature and frequency of women's sexual fantasies, she was tackling a taboo subject, despite the advances of the sexual revolution of the decade before.

Each section of the book addresses a different aspect of sexual fantasy and quoted case studies taken from a sample of American women. Chapters like "Being Taken by the Faceless Stranger," "The Fetishists," "Young Boys," and "Domination" hint at the nature of the subject matter.

In chapter four, Friday addresses the origins of sexual fantasies. The chapter following gives a clear explanation of the guilt associated with fantasizing, and she sums up the book with a wonderful acceptance of all women's sexual fantasies.

Friday's Other Books on Women's Sexuality

The first book was such a success that Friday went on to compile the fantasies of older women and wrote two books based on this research. Forbidden Flowers was published  two years after My Secret Garden and garnered similar success. It was rumoured to be a liberating bestseller of "secret, uninhibited fantasies that turn women on."

Friday's third collection of women's sexual fantasies is entitled Women On Top and addresses the next generation's thoughts about sex and titilation.

Friday reinforces that sexual fantasies are healthy and normal  and provide women and men a positive, affirming view of erotic thought during sex or masturbation.

The copyright of the article Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden: Research Attesting to Women's Sexual Fantasies in Women's Sexuality is owned by Alyssa Skye. Permission to republish Nancy Friday's My Secret Garden: Research Attesting to Women's Sexual Fantasies in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.