Price: $45.95
Page Count: 420
Publication Date: April 2026
ISBN: 978-1-77258-577-3
“WHEN I REVIVED THE CONCEPT OF MATRESCENCE, I HOPED IT WOULD OFFER LANGUAGE FOR OTHER THINKERS, ARTISTS, AND ACTIVISTS TO INTERPRET WHAT THEY WERE WITNESSING ... IN MAMA SEX, SARAH FORBES TAKES UP THAT CHALLENGE BEAUTIFULLY, REEXAMINING MATERNAL SEXUALITY FROM NEW ANGLES FOR A NEW GENERATION... FORBES RESTORES COMPLEXITY BY SHOWCASING THAT DESIRE DOES NOT DISAPPEAR IN MOTHERHOOD—IT REORGANIZES. THIS IS NOT SIMPLY A BOOK ABOUT SEX. IT IS ABOUT RESTORING OXYGEN TO THE VITAL SPARK OF MOTHERS AND HONORING WOMEN’S LIBIDOS AS CENTRAL RATHER THAN PERIPHERAL. THIS COLLECTION IS BOTH DISRUPTIVE AND DEEPLY NECESSARY.”
--- AURÉLIE ATHAN, PHD
"AN EYE-OPENING READ FOR EVERY MOTHER. MAMA SEX IS AN INTIMATE EXAMINATION OF WHAT HAPPENS TO WOMEN’S SEXUALITY DURING THE TRANSITION TO MOTHERHOOD AND BEYOND. FORBES GIVES US A FRESH TAKE AND EXAMINES WHY WE NEED TO CHANGE THE NARRATIVE AND HELP MOTHERS RECLAIM THEIR IDENTITY."
--- MELISSA HOGENBOOM, AUTHOR OF BREADWINNERS AND THE MOTHERHOOD COMPLEX
MAMA SEX GIVES READERS BOTH THE CONTEXT AND THE TOOLS TO CHANGE THEIR SEX LIVES. AT ITS HEART, MAMA SEX REMINDS MOTHERS THAT THEY CAN NURTURE THEIR SEXUALITY AND STILL BE A "GOOD MOTHER."
--- ZOE BLASKEY, AUTHOR OF MOTHERKIND: A NEW WAY TO THRIVE IN A WORLD OF ENDLESS EXPECTATIONS
Mama Sex is a bold and necessary book that treats matrescence with the care it deserves. Rather than isolating sex from motherhood, identity, history and culture, it weaves them together ... Sarah names what many mothers feel but struggle to articulate; Far from offering quick fixes, this book offers understanding, context and a sense of permission. With clarity and courage, Sarah has exposed the myths, systems and expectations that shape mothers experiences, and charts the way for mothers to reclaim pleasure of their own
- Nikki McCahon, Matrescence Educator, Founder of the Seasons of Matrescence
THIS BOOK HAS THE POWER TO SHIFT HOW WOMEN UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES. IT MAKES VISIBLE THE SYSTEMS THAT QUIETLY SHAPE OUR RELATIONSHIPS TO OUR BODIES, DESIRE, AND WORTH, AND REFRAMES EXPERIENCES SO OFTEN TREATED AS PERSONAL FAILURES AS COLLECTIVE, INHERITED REALITIES. READING IT OFFERS LANGUAGE, CONTEXT, AND RELIEF:
--- PAIGE CONNELL, LEADING THOUGHT LEADER ON THE MENTAL LOAD AND THE FOUNDER OF THE TURNER COLLECTIVE
Preface
Introduction: The Mama Sex Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Section 1: When a Perfect Storm Causes a Revolution
Essay 1. The Pressures to Be “Perfect” is Killing our Mama Sex Lives
Essay 2. Mamas Are Not Feeling Supported
Essay 3. Negotiating Trauma
Essay 4. Modern Mamas Are Having a Hard Time Adjusting to Their Postpartum Bodies
Essay 5. We Aren’t Prepared for Matrescence (aka, “The Birth of the Mother”)
Section 2: Why Modern Motherhood Is Harder
Essay 1: The Perfect Mother Myth
Essay 2: Intensive Mothering: A Yardstick of "Goodness"
Essay 3: Are you a "Good Mother" or Do You Like Sex?
Essay 4: Can I Be a Mother and a Person?
Essay 5: Never Measuring Up: Guilt, Anger and Ambivalence
Section 3: Why Do We Know So Little About Mama Sex
Section 4: A Mama Centric History of Back in the Day
Essay 1:The Famous Females of Evolution
Essay 2: Sheanderthals
Essay 3: Mama Sapien and the Cognitive Revolution
Essay 4: Prehistory: A Time Before Patriarchy?
Essay 5: The Multiplicity of Female Experience in the Ancient World
Essay 6: The Ancient Artifacts of Motherhood You Never Knew Existed
Essay 7: Mother Goddess Worship
Essay 8: THe Boys Club of Ancient Greece
Essay 9: How Often Do You Think About the Roman Empire?
Essay 10: Why the History of the Mother Goddess Matters to Modern Motherhood
Section 5: The Archaeology of Vanilla Sex: How History Has Shaped Our Attitudes Toward Female and Maternal Sexuality
Venn 1: Religion, Sex and Social Change
Venn 2: Science, "Fact," and the Threat of the Uterus
Venn 3:The Age of Reason, Revolution, and The Birth of Feminism
Venn 4: The Industrial Revolution, Modern Medicine, and Authority Over Female Bodies
Venn 5: The Victorians, Gynecology, and Gendered Medical Injustice
Venn 6: "Fallen Women, "Angels of the House" and the Duplicity of the Vibrator that Saved Her
Venn 7: The Victorian Porn Effect, Frigidity and Freud
Venn 8: A Right to Vote, A Right to Painless Childbirth and A Right to Motherhood on One's Own Terms
Venn 9: A Baby Boom, Sex Research Goes Mainstream, and A Feminist-Sexual Revolution
Venn 10: Modern Relationships, Modern Motherhood, and Minding the Gap While Mating in Captivity
Section 6: How History Shapes Our Maternal Inheritance
Exploring Your Own Maternal Inheritance
Section 7: Matrescence and the Identity of the Modern Mother
Unraveling Your Own Story of Matrescence
Section 8: The Here, Now and The Maternal Support You Need to Change Your Sex Life
Essay 1: Understanding Matrescence for a “Motherwhelmed” and “Postnatally Depleted” Generation
Essay 2: Why the “Fourth Trimester” is So Important to Your Mama Sex Life
Essay 3: How to Not Let Having Kids Ruin Your Sex Life
Conclusion: ¨A Revolution from Home¨
Epilogue: The Interviews
Sarah Forbes is a curator, sexual culturalist, and author of "Sex in the Museum," a memoir based on her decade as the Curator of the Museum of Sex. Dubbed a "sexpert supreme" by Cosmopolitan Magazine, Forbes is a featured expert on media outlets ranging from the Discovery Channel to the New York Times. Unafraid of taboo topics, her one-of-a-kind portfolio career is rooted in Anthropology and a profound curiosity in the human animal.
