Posts Tagged ‘women’

It wasn’t until my own book had gone to press that I learned that Gail Sheehy had written about the same subject, and her book would be coming out at the same time as mine. I had no idea, until I saw her title, that the two of us independently had come up with the term “seasoned women” to describe women 60 and older who have a wealth of life experience, self-knowledge, wisdom, sexual zest, and joie de vivre.

In my book, I gave the term “sexually seasoned women” to the women I interviewed, who shared openly and eagerly their past and present sexual experiences and relationships, and their attitudes about life, sex, relationships, and themselves.

At the same time my book was going to press, Gail Sheehy was titling her book Sex and the Seasoned Woman. I hope readers don’t think either of us stole the term from the other. In a way it’s a startling coincidence, but in another way, of course we’d both come up with that term. It’s just right!

An adaptation appears in today’s Parade magazine, and while of course I wish my book had been mentioned also, I’m happy that this topic is finally getting the publicity it deserves.