Making Out Like a Virgin: Sex, Desire & Intimacy After Sexual Trauma

Making Out Like a Virgin: Sex, Desire & Intimacy After Sexual Trauma is a unique and moving collection of personal nonfiction essays that detail how each writer has moved beyond mere survival of sexual trauma to unapologetically discover a sexually and emotionally thriving life.

Making Out Like a Virgin is not a collection of victim narratives, nor a healing workbook. Instead, this book is a bold new addition to generations of stories told by survivors. The mission of these writers is not to recount their individual trauma but to detail what has helped them reclaim both body and sexual desire. “Making out like a virgin” serves as a metaphor, giving permission to sizzle and seize the moment. By telling their stories, these writers share their strength and successes found somewhere between the big shifts and small intimate moments, inspiring others while furthering their own healing.

The anthology features 17 contributor—women, men, and transgender—from 5 countries; ranging in age from their mid-20s to their late 60s; hailing from Dubai, Cairo, Dublin, Toronto, Melbourne, and from across the United States. These writers offer answers to:

·       What does it mean to not just survive, but to flourish?

·       Is it possible to ever again feel powerful and confident in one's own body and within relationships?

·       Can someone move beyond being limited or controlled by a tragic event?

“Making Out Like a Virgin is the collective power of a community of people who have refused to let the circumstances of their younger selves dictate the course of the rest of their lives. The individuals in this community have found the strength to become sexually and emotionally whole—a healing that transcends gender and orientation.” (from the foreword by Sue William Silverman, author, Love Sick: One Woman’s Journey Through Sexual Addiction)

Edited and introduced by Catriona McHardy and Cathy Plourde with a foreword by Sue William Silverman. Paperback, audio and eBook formats will release simultaneously. The audiobook edition is performed by award-winning narrator Tavia Gilbert.

Making Out Like a Virgin: Sex, Desire & Intimacy After Sexual Trauma is the inaugural publication of Portlyn Media, an imprint of Animal Mineral Press. Animal Mineral is the parent company for a set of publishing imprints that cover different aspects of sex, sexuality, and relationships, including non-fiction, faith-based romance, erotica, and other fiction for youth, new adults, and adults.

Catriona McHardy has spent her life studying human sexuality and formally held a career promoting healthy expressions of sexuality, individually and culturally. In 32 years at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, she rose from health care associate to longtime Vice President for Education and Training. She led a team of "sexperts" who provided sexuality education and training to professionals, teens, and parents regionally, nationally, and internationally, including Uganda and Russia. Catriona is a consultant and trainer on issues pertaining to sexual expression and sex positive culture, and a faculty member at Community College of Vermont, where she teaches courses in communication, race, ethnicity, class and gender, and human sexuality. She has served as national co-chair of the Association of Planned Parenthood Leaders in Education and has won the PPFA's Award as Director of the Year. Catriona was named as the first Distinguished Alumni Award from the Vermont State College Hall of Fame. She was a longstanding board member of the Women's Crisis Center in Brattleboro Vermont and Outright Vermont.

Cathy Plourde's plays on coping with eating disorders (The Thin Line) and engaging bystanders in interrupting violence (You the Man) have been presented across the US and have been culturally translated for use with Melbourne's Deakin University. She has presented and published nationally and internationally on theatre and arts for social change, wellness, education, and community building, and has received commissions and artist residencies from numerous organizations to develop works addressing these issues. As founder and director of Add Verb Productions she raised over a million dollars to promote this work, including the award-winning performance and activism anthologies (Out & Allied, vol. 1 and 2) for LGBTQ youth and their allies. She attended the Breadloaf School of English, was a long-standing Honorary Artist in Residence at the University of Southern Maine, served as a founding member of Boys to Men Maine and the Pride Youth Theatre Alliance, and taught in Integrated Health Sciences at the University of New England.

Sue William Silverman is the author of three memoirs. The Pat Boone Fan Club: My Life as a White Anglo-Saxon Jew is part of the "American Lives Series" with the University of Nebraska Press. Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You won the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Award Series in Creative Nonfiction. Her memoir, Love Sick: One Woman's Journey through Sexual Addiction, was also made into a Lifetime TV Original Movie. Her craft book is Fearless Confessions: A Writer's Guide to Memoir, and her poetry collection is Hieroglyphics in Neon. As a professional speaker and writer, Sue has appeared on many nationally syndicated radio and TV programs including The View, Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN; a John Stossel Special on ABC-TV; CNN-Headline News; the Montel Williams Show; the Ricki Lake Show; and the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. She was also featured in an episode of "The Secret Lives of Women" on WE-TV. Sue teaches in the low-residency MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.