Forty Beads

April 1, 2011

A creative catalyst for remedying an ailing sex life.

When Evans was facing a particularly arduous period in her marriage, she knew she needed to do something to reignite her love life. She decided to offer her husband sex on a daily basis for 40 straight days, marking each one off with the drop of a Venetian bead into a mason jar. Thus was born the Forty Beads Method, an approach that "assumes a disparity that often exists between the male and female libidos and offers a way to close the gap." Evans' observations about sex and marriage and advice for other couples who want to try this at home are laced with attention-grabbing anecdotes and humor. When she explained her plan to her husband, she writes, he "looked at me as if I were Venus, the Goddess of Love, sailing into the bedroom on a clamshell." But she makes unsubstantiated and sweeping generalizations about men throughout the text, most notably in "Sex: The Deal," in which she writes, "Men love sex and for most of them, it's their favorite thing in the whole world." She employs limited scientific evidence to justify her oversimplified views. And while the author invites homosexuals to try this method, she fails to suggest any possible modifications to the heterosexual approach to her program. Also includes guidelines for creating a supportive community of Beaders.

For women who need help dealing with the sexual power struggles of their relationship.

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