Unveiling Desire and Deprivation: Inside Melissa Febos’ Provocative Year Without Sex
Her initial plan called for three months, but she documents the challenge of that effort from the outset. Early on, she writes:
“It was always a question of how honest I wanted to be with myself. Did I really want to change, to live according to my own beliefs? Or did I secretly prefer to go on as I had been. I mean, why bother with such a project if I wasn’t going to be wholehearted? The prospect of giving up all the pleasures of romance seemed downright sepulchral. But why was I actually doing this? Was it solely to avoid another maelstrom? To relieve my depression? I had already accomplished the latter, but knew I wasn’t finished. The point of my celibacy wasn’t merely to take a break, but to make room for change. I’d barely begun.”
