Let's Talk About Sex

Anne Rodgers is a confidante about sex to a lot of women she barely knows.

The former Austinite and longtime editor at the Austin American-Statesman (and, full disclosure, friend and former colleague) is the author of Kiss and Tell: Secrets of Sexual Desire From Women 15 to 97. After packing an Austin event this summer with a lively, curious crowd, she’ll be back in town for an Oct. 23 reading and signing at BookWoman.


For the book, Rodgers, who now lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., teamed with South Florida gynecologist Maureen Whelihan. Some 1,300 women at Whelihan’s practice filled out a survey about what turns them on, the best sex of their lives, and more questions on sex and desire. Rodgers followed up with about 100 in-person interviews.




And she got an earful – from 19-year-old Hailey, who’s turned off by “scrawny” guys “wearing Abercrombie,” to 55-year-old former swinger Alexa to Catherine, who had her first orgasm at 82.




“The honesty of the women who talked to me for the book pretty much took my breath away,” Rodgers says. “Despite what Sex and the City would have you believe, women don’t often get this real about the details of their sex lives. It was quite the revelation.”




The message of the book is “relax, you’re normal” – whether you always want sex or you seldom do, and whatever gets you going.




That acceptance, and Rodgers’ warm, best-girlfriend charisma, inspires women to pull her aside after her appearances for some one-on-one sex talks. It’s a role she relishes, especially when older women are finally able to voice questions or stories they've long kept silent.




“If you think the fun ends at 40, or even 50, you are way wrong,” Rodgers says. “I’ve got the stories to prove it.”




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Anne Rodgers speaks at BookWoman (5501 N. Lamar Ste. A-105) at 7pm on Wednesday, Oct. 23. Visit www.ebookwoman.com for complete event details.