Want: Gillian Anderson Has Written A Book About Sexual Fantasies
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4 months ago
And the internet has gone wild for it.
Her Sex Education on-screen alter-ego Jean Milburn is used to listening to people’s sexual fantasies. But while anything disclosed to a sex therapist would usually be kept behind closed doors, Gillian Anderson’s new book is all about sharing women’s sexual fantasies. The actor’s new book, Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous, is a collection of 174 anonymous sexual fantasies contributed by women around the world, including one of her own, hidden somewhere in the book.
The book is organised into thematic chapters such as ‘To Be Worshipped’ and ‘Power and Submission’, and while Anderson is used to being open about sex and sexuality, both through her on-screen portrayals and with her drinks brand G-Spot, she has shared that sharing her sexual fantasy for the book made her feel bashful. Gillian told BBC news: ‘Suddenly, describing the imagery that’s been in my head for a while, and the action of doing that, added a level of intimacy that I wouldn’t have expected. I wouldn’t have expected myself to be so shy around it.’
The work is a modern take on My Secret Garden, a book about women’s fantasies, published by Nancy Friday in 1973. And though we arguably live in a more open society, reviews have noted that Anderson’s book is more filtered than the 70s tome, with stories carefully selected to rule out any that may cause offence or would be illegal if acted out. They’re not bland though: they range from dreaming of breastfeeding a cashier to a three-way with the Weasley twins from Harry Potter.
What Are The Reviewers Saying?
Kitty Drake of The Guardian writes: ‘Some of the stories in this book feel too self-censored to be truly erotic. If you’re looking to get off, Nancy Friday’s daring original is more likely to do the trick. Even so, Want makes for addictive reading.’
What could be more addictive than getting a rare peek into the fantasies of real, everyday women from all over the world? Aside from the obvious appeal (to debate just which of the 174 is Anderson’s personal fantasy), the book is surely a must-read to get one step closer to answering the age-old question once and for all: what do women want?
When Is It Out?
Want: Sexual Fantasies by Anonymous by Gillian Anderson is out today, 5 September 2024. bookshop.org
