Emily Nagoski (born 1977) is an American

sex educator Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproducti ...

and

researcher Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness t ...

, and author of the book ''Come as You Are''. She is the former director of wellness education at

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

, where she teaches a course on women's sexuality.

''Come as You Are''

Among various topics, ''Come as You Are'' discusses the difference between "spontaneous" and "responsive"

sexual desire Sexual desire is an emotion and motivational state characterized by an interest in sexual objects or activities, or by a drive to seek out sexual objects or to engage in sexual activities. It is an aspect of sexuality, which varies significantly ...

, with Nagoski estimating that only around 15% of women experience the former. She also discusses "arousal non-concordance", estimating, based on experiments of responsiveness to sexual stimuli, that there is a roughly 50% overlap between what men find physically and mentally arousing, compared with only 10% for women.

''Burnout''

In 2019, Nagoski and her twin sister Amelia co-wrote the book ''Burnout'', on the causes and management of stress, including structural factors that particularly affect women. They contrast the relatively short-term dynamics of stress in evolutionary times with modern-day stressors that often go unresolved, and discuss forms of affection and physical activity that help complete what they call the "stress cycle".

References

1977 births Living people American sexologists Indiana University Bloomington alumni Sex educators Smith College faculty Women sexologists 21st-century American women writers American women academics 21st-century educators American women educators {{US-nonfiction-writer-stub