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The Last Straight Woman

On Desiring Men

Author Phoebe Maltz Bovy

Hardcover

$26.00 US

McClelland & Stewart | Signal

5-1/2"W x 8-1/4"H (14.0 x 21.0 cm) | 12 oz (350 g) | 12 per carton

On sale May 19, 2026 | 240 Pages | 9780771013027

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Nonfiction > Literary Criticism

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A fiercely intelligent, funny, and much-needed reality check on the state of heterosexual women.

The Last Straight Woman is a call to set aside the baggage of what female heterosexuality evokes, in favour of a definition of what it actually entails: women liking men. No more, no less. That a woman is straight implies nothing about how conventional or submissive she is. It does not mean she wants to be accommodating to men generally.

Using that simple definition as its launching point, the book moves to the history of women’s desire for men, and how it is ultimately separate from much of the history of marriage. Phoebe then turns to the sexual revolution of the late 1960s, and to second-wave feminist critiques of heterosexuality—a pattern that repeated itself when early-2000s sex positivity gave way to post-#MeToo reticence. One sees men’s desires pitted against women’s need for safety, with women’s own lusts all but forgotten. She examines the ways everyone from queer theorists to evolutionary psychologists has cast doubt on the authenticity of women’s interest in men, as well as the frustratingly widespread notion that female sexuality is fundamentally about wanting others to find you attractive. She makes sense of a society where many young adults are 2SLGBTQI+ but a lot of the women so identifying lead effectively heterosexual lives. Is it men these women have gone off, or just the confining gender roles associated with being a straight lady?

The Last Straight Woman offers a way forward for straight women. In lieu of the sexy woman men are gazing at, why not be the woman too busy gazing at sexy men to have bothered with her own looks? Phoebe offers not a self-improvement PowerPoint, but rather an assortment of characters from 1990s British sitcoms, a rare world where the frumpy but horny straight lady had her day. She does not demand that 21st century women model themselves after supporting characters from long-forgotten television shows but rather merely consider the possibility that straight women are all one argyle sweater-vest away from true liberation.

PHOEBE MALTZ BOVY is a cultural critic in Toronto, and the author of The Perils of “Privilege” (St. Martins, 2017). She is a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail, a senior editor at The Canadian Jewish News, and a co-host (with Kat Rosenfield) of the Feminine Chaos podcast. Her newsletter, Close-reading the Reruns, relates contemporary North American issues to 90s British sitcoms. She has written for The Atlantic, The Forward, and The New Republic, among many other publications. Phoebe has a Ph.D. in French from New York University. View titles by Phoebe Maltz Bovy

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Available for sale exclusive:

• Afghanistan

• Aland Islands

• Albania

• Algeria

• Andorra

• Angola

• Anguilla

• Antarctica

• Antigua/Barbuda

• Argentina

• Armenia

• Aruba

• Australia

• Austria

• Azerbaijan

• Bahamas

• Bahrain

• Bangladesh

• Barbados

• Belarus

• Belgium

• Belize

• Benin

• Bermuda

• Bhutan

• Bolivia

• Bonaire, Saba

• Bosnia Herzeg.

• Botswana

• Bouvet Island

• Brazil

• Brit.Ind.Oc.Ter

• Brit.Virgin Is.

• Brunei

• Bulgaria

• Burkina Faso

• Burundi

• Cambodia

• Cameroon

• Canada

• Cape Verde

• Cayman Islands

• Centr.Afr.Rep.

• Chad

• Chile

• China

• Christmas Islnd

• Cocos Islands

• Colombia

• Comoro Is.

• Congo

• Cook Islands

• Costa Rica

• Croatia

• Cuba

• Curacao

• Cyprus

• Czech Republic

• Dem. Rep. Congo

• Denmark

• Djibouti

• Dominica

• Dominican Rep.

• Ecuador

• Egypt

• El Salvador

• Equatorial Gui.

• Eritrea

• Estonia

• Ethiopia

• Falkland Islnds

• Faroe Islands

• Fiji

• Finland

• France

• Fren.Polynesia

• French Guinea

• Gabon

• Gambia

• Georgia

• Germany

• Ghana

• Gibraltar

• Greece

• Greenland

• Grenada

• Guadeloupe

• Guam

• Guatemala

• Guernsey

• Guinea Republic

• Guinea-Bissau

• Guyana

• Haiti

• Heard/McDon.Isl

• Honduras

• Hong Kong

• Hungary

• Iceland

• India

• Indonesia

• Iran

• Iraq

• Ireland

• Isle of Man

• Israel

• Italy

• Ivory Coast

• Jamaica

• Japan

• Jersey

• Jordan

• Kazakhstan

• Kenya

• Kiribati

• Kuwait

• Kyrgyzstan

• Laos

• Latvia

• Lebanon

• Lesotho

• Liberia

• Libya

• Liechtenstein

• Lithuania

• Luxembourg

• Macau

• Macedonia

• Madagascar

• Malawi

• Malaysia

• Maldives

• Mali

• Malta

• Marshall island

• Martinique

• Mauritania

• Mauritius

• Mayotte

• Mexico

• Micronesia

• Minor Outl.Ins.

• Moldavia

• Monaco

• Mongolia

• Montenegro

• Montserrat

• Morocco

• Mozambique

• Myanmar

• Namibia

• Nauru

• Nepal

• Netherlands

• New Caledonia

• New Zealand

• Nicaragua

• Niger

• Nigeria

• Niue

• Norfolk Island

• North Korea

• North Mariana

• Norway

• Oman

• Pakistan

• Palau

• Palestinian Ter

• Panama

• PapuaNewGuinea

• Paraguay

• Peru

• Philippines

• Pitcairn Islnds

• Poland

• Portugal

• Puerto Rico

• Qatar

• Reunion Island

• Romania

• Russian Fed.

• Rwanda

• S. Sandwich Ins

• Saint Martin

• Samoa,American

• San Marino

• SaoTome Princip

• Saudi Arabia

• Senegal

• Serbia

• Seychelles

• Sierra Leone

• Singapore

• Sint Maarten

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Solomon Islands

• Somalia

• South Africa

• South Korea

• South Sudan

• Spain

• Sri Lanka

• St Barthelemy

• St. Helena

• St. Lucia

• St. Vincent

• St.Chr.,Nevis

• St.Pier,Miquel.

• Sth Terr. Franc

• Sudan

• Suriname

• Svalbard

• Swaziland

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Syria

• Tadschikistan

• Taiwan

• Tanzania

• Thailand

• Timor-Leste

• Togo

• Tokelau Islands

• Tonga

• Trinidad,Tobago

• Tunisia

• Turkey

• Turkmenistan

• Turks&Caicos Is

• Tuvalu

• US Virgin Is.

• USA

• Uganda

• Ukraine

• Unit.Arab Emir.

• United Kingdom

• Uruguay

• Uzbekistan

• Vanuatu

• Vatican City

• Venezuela

• Vietnam

• Wallis,Futuna

• West Saharan

• Western Samoa

• Yemen

• Zambia

• Zimbabwe

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The Last Straight Woman

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