Sex After Grief

Book excerpt: “A profoundly compassionate, deeply personal, and exceptionally practical guidebook for moving forward after loss with both purpose and joy.” —Lynn Comella, PhD, author of Vibrator Nation Winner of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Writing Award in Service/Self-Help Sex after Grief is the first book to address sex and grief together and treat sex as a normal, positive, life-affirming part of emerging from such a difficult time. Joan Price, the top expert on senior sex, draws on her own experiences as a widow since 2008, when she lost the love of her life to cancer. She shares her raw grief journey, sexual reawakening (and the many stumbles along the way), and attempts to dip back into dating, along with excellent advice on handling each step. As Price says, there’s no right or wrong method or timeline for bringing our sexuality back into into our lives, whether it’s with our own hands, a friend with benefits, a hook-up, a new companion, or any combination. Sex After Grief includes a variety of people’s personal stories from folks of all genders and orientations. Some jumped into sex quickly. Some took years. Some withdrew from sexual possibility. No one was wrong, and no choice is defective or shameful. Sex After Grief includes: Inspiring tales of how different people brought sex back into their lives after the loss of their spouse or partner Guidelines for dating again and getting sexual with a new person Reasons that solo sex is healthy and can be the path to feeling sexual again Advice from therapists, grief counselors, and sex coaches Self-help takeaways for creating an action plan