| Italic Title: | (see above) --> |
| My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies | |
| Author: | Nancy Friday |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Subject: | Female sexual fantasies |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Publisher: | Trident Press |
| Pub Date: | 1973 |
| Pages: | 361 |
| Isbn: | 0-671-27101-6 |
| Followed By: | Forbidden Flowers |
My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies is a 1973 book compiled by Nancy Friday, who collected women's fantasies through letters and tapes and personal interviews.[1] After including a female sexual fantasy in a novel she submitted for publishing, her editor objected, and Friday shelved the novel. After other women began writing and talking about sex publicly, Friday began thinking about writing a book about female sexual fantasies, first collecting fantasies from her friends, and then advertising in newspapers and magazines for more.[2] She organized these narratives into "rooms", and each is identified by the woman's first name, except for the last chapter, "odd notes", which is presented as the "fleeting thoughts" of many anonymous women. The book revealed that women fantasize, just as men do, and that the content of the fantasies can be as transgressive, or not, as men's. The book, the first published compilation of women's sexual fantasies,[3] challenged many previously accepted notions of female sexuality.
My Secret Garden sold at least 2 million copies[4] and was translated to at least 10 languages.[5] It was banned in the Irish Republic.[6]
A sequel, , followed in 1975.
Chapter One: The Power of Fantasies
Chapter Two: Why Fantasies?
Chapter Three: What do women fantasize about?
Chapter Four: The source of women's fantasies
Chapter Five: Guilt and Fantasy
Chapter Six: Fantasy accepted
Chapter Seven: Odd notes
In 2009, the book was adapted into a full length stage play Multiple O: Women on Top. Playwright John Sable chose Women on Top (another book by Nancy Friday) as the play's title largely due to its more provocative connotation.