Gimme an O! Read Online Free PDF Page A

hint that the book was geared for women. “ The Big O: Getting Everything You Want and More. What made you decide to write a book about women’s…Well, why The Big O ?”
    Lecia drew in a shaky breath. She hadn’t tripped on thestage, the audience seemed to love her, and Jay was being as nice as could be. Yet she doubted she would get over her jitters.
    “I started off in medicine,” she explained, as she had on other talk shows. “I was an OB/GYN.”
    “Okay.”
    “In my practice, not only did I deal with women having babies, but a large number of them confided in me about their sexual frustration.”
    “Was this surprising?”
    “Oh, absolutely, yes. I expected some concerns, but the kind of things I could treat medically. You know, like pain during—” She stopped short, and instead used a hand gesture to try to convey “sex.”
    “Sex,” Jay said frankly.
    Lecia’s face flamed. “Yes.”
    “My wife complains about that all the time,” Jay said in a jovial tone, then adjusted his tie in a boasting gesture.
    “Really? Well, you should tell her to come see me.”
    There were cheers, and Jay laughed. Settling back, he said, “All right, back to our serious discussion. You found that women were sexually frustrated. How many, if you had to break it down percentagewise?”
    “Probably seventy-five percent.”
    Jay’s eyes widened. “Seventy-five percent were sexually frustrated?”
    Lecia nodded. “And I’m talking about women who were involved in relationships, some pregnant when I was dealing with them.”
    “Really?”
    “Really.”
    “Okay, so you realized women were frustrated and neededsome help. How did you jump from that point to writing this book? Because I always wonder how one goes about shifting gears like that. You’re a doctor, then a writer.”
    “I’ve been a closet writer all my life.”
    “A closet writer, then you came out.”
    “Uh-huh. I was scribbling stories from the time I was a kid. But I never thought I could ever make it as a writer. So I followed my parents’ path and went into medicine. But I still had the writing bug. I’d always thought I would write fiction, but I couldn’t get past the first two chapters of any story I started. I finally decided, why not nonfiction? I had the expertise.”
    “I can’t dispute that. I read the book and found it quite… interesting. ”
    “Did you, now?”
    When the audience cat-called, Jay faced them with a dumbfounded expression. “Yes,” he said firmly. “I did. I didn’t see a disclaimer that said the book was only for women.”
    “Actually, I think the more men who read it, the better off women will be.”
    Hoots and howls of agreement.
    “Exactly, as my wife can attest to.” Jay paused at another round of cheers. “Anyway, back to the book. You take a therapist approach.”
    “I’ve always been the type of doctor who likes to talk to my patients, counsel them. I’d also studied psychotherapy. Anyway, I finally decided that with so many women sexually unsatisfied, perhaps I should consider going into sex therapy. So I switched gears, got my therapy accreditation, then began counseling patients on sexuality. I set up my practice primarily for women, by the way, since I’d dealt with women as a physician. If I thought women were unsatisfied while I was anOB/GYN, did I ever get an earful as a therapist. That’s when I made the decision to do what I’d originally considered: write a book on the subject. And that’s how The Big O came to be.”
    “And with its runaway success, I think it’s safe to say that there are a lot of men out there who are pretty surprised.”
    Women whistled their agreement.
    “ I was pretty surprised. Not to say there aren’t satisfied women out there, but there are a heck of a lot who aren’t.”
    “Why do you think that is?”
    “First of all, men and women still have trouble communicating. Beyond the superficial, anyway. To complicate things, speaking about intimate matters