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On Sale: Now
Paperback
ISBN: 9781401309923
Kerry Cohen’s journey from that hopeless place to her current confident and fulfilled existence is both a cautionary tale and a revelation.
LOOSE GIRL is Kerry Cohen’s captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction --- not just to sex, but to male attention --- LOOSE GIRL is also the story of a young girl who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning.
Never less than riveting, LOOSE GIRL re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment when a girl tries to control a boy by handing over her body, when the touch of that boy seems to offer proof of something but ultimately delivers little more than emptiness.
The unforgettable story of one young woman who desperately wanted to matter, LOOSE GIRL will speak to countless others with its compassion, understanding, and love.
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“Cohen’s brutal honesty about her relentless quest for companionship is refreshingly relatable.”
--- Entertainment Weekly
“Cohen recounts her harrowing litany of hookups through clear, poignant, spare-no-details prose.”
--- Marie Claire
“Cohen’s clear-eyed, evocative, and engaging voice draws you into this harrowing story, into the heart of her addiction. Her honesty is brave, her clarity is remarkable, her candor is disarming. No matter who you are, you will find yourself, at key moments, identifying with Cohen. And in the end, you will cheer for her hard-won happiness.”
--Alison Smith, NAME ALL THE ANIMALS
“Kerry Cohen’s powerful, transfixing story will be familiar to many women, most of whom won't want to admit it. In this heartfelt and authentic memoir, Cohen transcends the pain and shame of a promiscuous past, and leaves readers with a sense of hope and triumph.”
--Janice Erlbaum, author of GIRLBOMB: A Halfway Homeless Memoir
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Kerry Cohen received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon and an MA in counseling psychology from Pacific University. A psychotherapist and the author of the young adult novels EASY, THE GOOD GIRL and IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S ME, she lives with her husband and two sons in Portland, Oregon.
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Introduction
In the darkness, he touches me, his long, strong fingers moving across the surface of my skin, his breath hot and real near my ear. He kisses tenderly, my ear, my neck, my mouth. Slides my shirt over my head, the movement choreographed with his breath. Then his fingers on the button of my jeans, the hesitation. Will she let me do this? he must be wondering. And my wordless answer, a movement of the hips. Yes, yes, always yes. He slips off the jeans, the underwear, and then on top of me, his solid body, the weight of him, his movement, all so real, all so there. It doesn’t matter who he is. There are so many of them. Him. Me. Our movement together. Proof, I think again and again, of being worthwhile. Proof of being loved.
***
I slept with close to forty boys and men before I figured out doing so was not serving me well. There were many more with whom I did other sexual acts, like oral sex and petting. To some this may seem like a lot. Others will think it not very many at all. There are girls with lists much longer than mine. In truth, I don’t really know the length of my list. After twenty-five I lost count. Sometime in my late twenties I tried to name them all, starting with my first, but I found out quickly I had forgotten a host of names. A few I may not have ever known, and for the larger percentage I didn’t know last names. Still, I sat there, chewing at the end of my pen, the pad of paper before me - Tom? Tim? Oh, wait, then there was that guy with the dog. And the one who kept talking to me during sex, as though we were just hanging out, what was his name? For a man this might be a pleasant trip down memory lane, counting up his conquests. But for a girl, it’s a whole other story. I had let these men inside me, wanting that to make me matter to them. Wanting it to make me matter. Now they were just cross-outs and question marks. At some point, I gave up, disgusted with myself. I crumpled the paper and threw it away.
This is not a list of which I am proud.
Still, it is a telling of my story.
It is the story of any girl who finds herself hurt in some way, who finds herself with pain, and then makes a choice to do something about it. Some girls turn to anorexia. Others to alcohol, drugs, cutting, sports, ambition. I chose promiscuity. I am not the only one by far.
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