Pornology

March 5, 2007
Carrillo-Gailey is just the latest in a decade-long string of women writers (e.g., Lisa Palac and her 1997 memoir, The Edge of the Bed
, for starters) to run with the idea that "good girls" don't need to be afraid of pornography. The concept isn't particularly original, and neither is its execution. After a boyfriend accuses her of being "pornophobic," the Los Angeles screenwriter picks up some erotica in a bookshop, begins masturbating, then breaks up with the boyfriend after a misguided visit to a strip club. The story of how she finds, loses and recaptures her next lover unfolds through a series of implausible anecdotes (beginning with an awkward encounter at Hustler's sex toy shop) populated by a sitcom-perfect cast of supporting characters, including the promiscuous best friend, the gay buddy—even a nearsighted Chinese mother prone to comic malapropisms. Carrillo-Gailey insists all the porn-related material is true, but concedes that some situations have been "altered for dramatic purposes," and the increasingly outlandish nature of those embellishments raises questions about the other passages. On the other hand, they do liven up her banal discoveries: vibrators can be fun, Playboy
isn't even that smutty and so on in this uninspired fairy tale.

Starred review from March 15, 2007
Sex education has finally advanced beyond the basic plumbing lessons you had in eighth grade, thanks to this book by Carrillo-Gailey, a columnist forTu Ciudad magazine. Accused by her boyfriend of being "pornophobic," Carrillo-Gailey set out to justify her opinion that porn is antifeminist and misogynistic. With a little help from her knitting-group friends, the Naughty Knitters (not your grandma's knitting group), she made a porn to-do list. She then systematically investigated everything from soft-core erotica to the Chicken Ranch, the famous house of prostitution in Las Vegas, which she visited in person. In the process, she fell in love with a guy she metwhere else?in a sex shop. Skillfully blending memoir and investigative journalism, Carrillo-Gailey tells her story with hilarious, self-deprecating wit and extreme honesty, giving all the explicit details without ever being obscene. After her rollicking journey, she comes to understand that porn and other sexual adventures can be part of a normal, healthy sex life. Recommended for public libraries.Renee Axtell, Independence, MO

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2007
Readers eager to spice up carefully constructed lifestyles will appreciate this spunky, funky, hip-young-thangs look at the wonderful world of smut and how it fits into contemporary womens lives. Modeling her research on anthropological inquiry, "good girl" (she says) Carrillo-Gailey was inspired by a boyfriend who accused her "of being pornophobic." Feeling challenged, she listed "every porn subject she was curious about" and began to explore. While friends saw her as a "spy" making "them more sexually savvy," she hoped "to understand men and their fascination with porn." The resultant book affords an upbeat-cum-perky look at strip clubs, sex toys, and pornographic videos, magazines, and Internet offerings. Carrillo-Gailey bought and wore "vibrating panties" (declining the optional $50 remote control, however), organized a Tupperware-ish home sex-toy party, and attended a seminar on oral sex. Busy, busy, busy! She achieved, and hopes to convey, greater awareness of products that "might add pleasure," whether used on oneself or someone else, as well as that, as with carbs, "there is good porn and bad porn."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)