Winner 2021 PROSE Award in the Cultural Anthropology & Sociology Category Finalist 2021
Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies A troubling account of heterosexual desire in the era of
#MeToo Heterosexuality is in crisis. Reports of sexual harassment misconduct and rape
saturate the news in the era of #MeToo. Straight men and women spend thousands of dollars every
day on relationship coaches seduction boot camps and couple's therapy in a search for
happiness. In The Tragedy of Heterosexuality Jane Ward smartly explores what exactly is
wrong with heterosexuality in the twenty-first century and what straight people can do to fix
it for good. She shows how straight women and to a lesser extent straight men have tried to
mend a fraught patriarchal system in which intimacy sexual fulfillment and mutual respect are
expected to coexist alongside enduring forms of inequality alienation and violence in
straight relationships. Ward also takes an intriguing look at the multi-billion-dollar
self-help industry which markets goods and services to help heterosexual couples without
addressing the root of their problems. Ultimately she encourages straight men and women to
take a page out of queer culture reminding them about the human capacity to desire fuck and
show respect at the same time.?
