Unspoken Desires: Real People Talk About Sexual Experiences and Fantasies They Hide from Their Partners

Steven & Iris Finz,

St. Martin's Press, 2000

Agent: Sandra Dijkstra

Iris and Steven Finz have the uncanny knack of getting people to talk about intimate details of their sex lives. For more than a decade, they have been interviewing people from all segments of society and, with the permission of their subjects, passing the stories along to their readers. 

Their books about the sexual experiences and fantasies of real people have become standard night table fare in bedrooms all around the world. Readers use them, not only to put erotic sparks into their own relationships, but also to develop a better understanding of the sexual behavior of others. 

In Unspoken Desires, the Finzes describe the secret erotic thoughts and practices of people who are unwilling to discuss them with their partners. They relate the story of an architect who dreams of being the prize in a poker game, forced to provide sexual services to the winners each time her husband loses; an office worker who invested two weeks' salary in a complicated sex machine and spends his lunch hours watching women amuse themselves with it; a housewife who has a clandestine lesbian affair with a childhood friend, another who dreams of being a high-priced call girl, and a third who keeps a collection of erotic toys with which to satisfy herself when her military husband fails to do so.

They tell of a real estate broker who once auditioned for a role in a porno movie; a computer nerd who sends strangers videotapes he has secretly made of himself and his wife having sex; and a public defender who is happily married, but spends her evenings in mutual masturbation sessions with a female friend.

In all, they present a total of 29 stories that are likely to change your ideas about what is normal and what nice people do.