Book Description
A taboo-bursting, personal and cultural tour through different sexual fetishes that asks: Do we have the courage to look at our desires directly, and express them unapologetically?
The smell of leather. The flash of a harness. The snap of a latex glove. Welcome to the radical, vibrant world of sexual fetishists.
In twenty-first-century commodity culture, we are all intimately involved with objects: we covet a Birkin bag; we keep sneakers box-fresh. We are all, in a sense, all fetishists. But occasionally this desire spills into something more subversive. Second Skin offers a tour through the materials, objects, and power dynamics commonly fetishised, unpacking their histories, their expressive potential, and the communities they give rise to. Drawing from her encounters with fellow fetishists and kinksters, it is also the story of Anastasiia Fedorova’s own journey of what it means to come to terms with one’s sexuality.
Moving between memoir, cultural criticism, reportage, erotic writing, and social history, Second Skin is a researched and topical book that encourages us to rethink how we see not only our own desires, but the world that creates them.
Praise For This Book
"Expansive and intimate, probing and emboldening . . . A book for anybody who has ever wondered what it might mean to put more of ourselves—dare we say, all of ourselves?—into sex." —Polly Barton, author of Porn: An Oral History"An archive, a celebration. At times, it's reminiscent of conversations had with like-minded friends and fellow queers. A complex, nuanced, and deeply rewarding foray into a world paradoxically visible and in the shadows." —Joshua Jones, author of Local Fires
"A rigorous study that throbs and pummels hard to beneath the surface of fetish. It's written with an electric charge. I submitted to every page." —Jodie Harsh, author of You Had To Be There
"A perfect balance of fascinating history, reflective memoir and up-to-date reporting. I slipped into Second Skin as if it were a glove. Fetish may not be for everyone—but this book is!" —Adam Zmith, author of Deep Sniff
"At last, a book on kink that isn’t squeamish and that doesn’t act like its subjects are bewildering freaks! Part tender investigation, part ecstatic hymn, Second Skin will give you goosebumps in all kinds of places." —Charlie Fox, author of This Young Monster
"Insightful, clear-eyed, generous, and surprisingly tender . . . You will feel it wrap itself around you like a gimp mask or a hard-earned embrace from your perfect Domina." —Brittany Newell, author of Softcore
"An elegant, intelligent, intimate exploration of the way a sexual charge can alchemize objects and vibes into worlds unto themselves." —Michelle Tea, author of Knocking Myself Up
"A personal and informative exploration of the many worlds of fetishism. I really enjoyed it." —Cosey Fanni Tutti, author of Art Sex Music
"A fascinating book about fetish and community. It works on both the mind and the senses; an erudite, intimate, and beautifully written account of the textures and symbols that animate our erotic lives." —Jack Parlett, author of Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise
