Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socia..., Kristen R. Ghodsee
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socia..., Kristen R. Ghodsee
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Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism
And Other Arguments for Economic Independence

Author: Kristen R. Ghodsee

Narrator: Esther Wane

Unabridged: 5 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/20/2018

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

A “brilliant,” “engaging,” and “valuable,” (Financial Times) exploration of why capitalism hurts women and how socialism, when done right, can bring economic independence, better labor conditions and, yes, even better sex.

In Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism, acclaimed ethnographer Kristen R. Ghodsee argues that unregulated capitalism disproportionately harms women—at work, at home, in government, and in the bedroom. Having spent years researching what happened to women in countries that transitioned from state socialism to capitalism, Ghodsee claims that by rejecting the bad and salvaging the good, we can adapt some socialist ideas to the twenty-first century and improve our lives.
 
This book is a spirited, witty, and deeply researched exploration of why socialism—when done right—can lead to economic independence, better work life balance, and yes, even better sex. It's become increasingly clear to women that capitalism isn’t working for us, and Ghodsee is the informed, lively guide who can show us the way forward.

About Kristen R. Ghodsee

Kristen R. Ghodsee is a professor and chair of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the critically acclaimed author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, which has been translated into fifteen languages. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, and The Washington Post, among other outlets, and she’s appeared on PBS NewsHour and France 24 as well as on dozens of podcasts, including NPR’s Throughline, Vox’s The Gray Area, and The Ezra Klein Show. She lives outside Philadelphia.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Quin on February 17, 2019

As an avowed Marxist feminist, I found this to be an utterly infuriating text. Ghodsee is an academic historian who has written a popular press book that seeks to dispel some widespread myths about the horrors of Eastern European state socialism. She does this with the explicit aim of opening up spa......more

Goodreads review by Emily on July 13, 2023

Eye catching title for sure and the content was just as interesting!......more

Goodreads review by Emily May on June 29, 2020

When women enjoy their own sources of income, and the state guarantees social security in old age, illness, and disability, women have no economic reason to stay in abusive, unfulfilling, or otherwise unhealthy relationships. 3 1/2 stars. I keep changing my mind about this book. I actually really......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on February 02, 2024

The title of the book, Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence, grabbed my attention. I am not an advocate for socialism and neither is Kristen Ghodsee, the author. The tagline, economic independence (for women) more appropriately describes the book's......more

Goodreads review by Thomas on March 31, 2025

3.5 stars What I most appreciated about this book is how the author explicitly addresses how money influences romantic and sexual relationships. Even though she does so within a heteronormative context, it was refreshing to read someone write about how money and economic systems can inhibit women’s c......more

Quotes

"Wonderful ... Kristen Ghodsee doesn't wear rose-tinted spectacles ... but she seeks with great brio and nuance to lay out what some socialist states achieved for women ... That Ghodsee also makes this a joyous read is the cherry on the cake."—Suzanne Moore, Observer

"Brilliant ... engaging ... Ghodsee is not naive [and] brings the necessary scepticism to her thesis [which] comes into sharp focus when she looks at what happened after the Wall fell ... [a] valuable record of how things were and how they could be."—Rosie Boycott, Financial Times

"Convincing, provocative and useful."—Times Higher Education

"The virtue of Ghodsee's smart, accessible book is that it illustrates how it might be possible for a woman-or, for that matter, a man-to have an entirely different structural relationship to something as fundamental as sex, or health...
Ghodsee approvingly notes the growing appeal of socialist ideas among young people in the United States and Western Europe, and her book is a useful reminder that the spread of these ideas would not just advantage the Bernie bros but might also better women's lives in significant ways. More orgasms alone might be a fine thing. But a change in the structural conditions under which more orgasms might be possible is another level of turn-on entirely."—Rebecca Mead, TheNew Yorker

"With acumen and wit, [Ghodsee] lays bare the inequities women face under capitalism and the desirability of decoupling 'love and intimacy from economic considerations.'"—O Magazine

"What if all it takes to get laid more is to embrace democratic socialism?... Ghodsee demonstrates how, historically, women have reported greater sexual satisfaction under democratic socialist (and even communist) governments."—Sophia Benoit, GQ Magazine

"[A] short, crisp and wonderfully engaging polemic [that] couldn't be more urgent.... A tonic for a badly ailing discourse.... Ghodsee's book shows that for women, socialism can at least improve the conditions for pleasure, and perhaps inextricably, love."—Liza Featherstone, Jacobin

"A provocative and deftly argued text."—Broadly

"Capitalism has fundamentally shaped and warped the ways we relate to each other, sexually and otherwise...leading us to view intimacy and love as things that only exist in finite quantities, and that are only worth investing in worthy relationships. Ghodsee's book offers an alternative to this model, looking back at the state-socialist regimes in the 20th century, under which the state liberalized divorce laws, legalized abortion, invested in collective laundries and nurseries, and enabled women to attain more economic freedom-and in turn, better sex."—The Cut

"A straightforward account of how capitalism harms women-including, yes, in our intimate lives... It made me want to do much more than vote."—Jewish Currents

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