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Strange Bedfellows

Adventures in the Science, History, and Surprising Secrets of STDs

Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

This program is read by the author.
With curiosity and wit, Strange Bedfellows rips back the bedsheets to expose what really happens when STDs enter the sack.

Sexually transmitted diseases have been hidden players in our lives for the whole of human history, with roles in everything from World War II to the growth of the Internet to The Bachelor. But despite their prominence, STDs have been shrouded in mystery and taboo for centuries, which begs the question: why do we know so little about them?
Enter Ina Park, MD, who has been pushing boundaries to empower and inform others about sexual health for decades. With Strange Bedfellows, she ventures far beyond the bedroom to examine the hidden role and influence of these widely misunderstood infections and share their untold stories.
Covering everything from AIDS to Zika, Park explores STDs on the cellular, individual, and population-level. She blends science and storytelling with historical tales, real life sexual escapades, and interviews with leading scientists—weaving in a healthy dose of hilarity along the way.
The truth is, most of us are sexually active, yet we're often unaware of the universe of microscopic bedfellows inside our pants. Park aims to change this by bringing knowledge to the masses in an accessible, no-nonsense, humorous way—helping listeners understand the broad impact STDs have on our lives, while at the same time erasing the unfair stigmas attached to them.
A departure from the cone of awkward silence and shame that so often surrounds sexual health, Strange Bedfellows is the straight-shooting audiobook about the consequences of sex that all curious listeners have been looking for.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Ina Park is a seasoned expert with a finely calibrated sense of the absurd. In other words, she is exactly who you want writing a book about STDs. The science is here, but so too are the stories and people behind it. Park has a mission—to break down the stigma and clear the way for open conversation and wider funding. She's a hero and a hoot!"—Mary Roach, author of the New York Times bestsellers Bonk and Stiff
"Strange Bedfellows—a book about how infections and viruses spread—is incredibly relevant to our time. But it is so much more than that: it's about desire, it's about history, it's about humanity itself. Ina Park reveals the mystery and fascination inherent in STDs and, improbably, she does it while being laugh-out-loud funny." — Peggy Orenstein, author of the New York Times Bestsellers Boys and Sex and Girls and Sex

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  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Author/narrator Ina Park is the spoonful of sugar that accompanies the science and medicine of sexually transmitted infections. There may be nothing funny about genital herpes for the millions of Americans who have contracted it, but there is something hilarious about Park's young sons fighting over the herpes soft toy she uses as an educational prop. Park's enthusiasm is clearly apparent in her rapid-fire delivery; her voice is appealing, and she's so genuine that you can't help but get swept up in the flow. She delivers sobering news about antibiotic-resistant infections, optimism about the prevention of HIV infections, and an overall need to destigmatize sexually transmitted infections. It's all interspersed with interesting patient anecdotes and self-effacing stories about getting a Brazilian in Brazil and being a cervix model for premed students. A.B. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 10, 2020
      Humor and serious talk mingle in this candid report on sex and sexually transmitted disease by physician and first-time author Park. Citing “epidemic increases” in transmission in the United States and elsewhere, she explores how modern dating apps like Tinder, with its 10 million daily active users, and Grindr, with its three million, may be contributing. Stressing a need for better sex ed and for public health specialists able to act as “scrappy sex detectives” in tracking down disease transmitters, Park draws awareness to the stigmas still surrounding STDs other than AIDs, such as genital herpes (for which “there are no colored ribbons, quilts, walk-a-thons, or celebrity benefit galas”) and to the “phallocentric” prejudices faced by doctors like Jeanne Marrazzo, who conducted important research into disease transmission among women at a time when the consensus was “no penis, no problem.” In a lighter vein, Park declares herself “the Lorax of pubic hair” after undergoing a painful bikini wax in Rio de Janeiro, and describes volunteering, while at UC Berkeley, as a live cervix model for premeds learning to do pelvic exams. Informative and frank, Park’s account of sex and STDs is ideal both for the curious and for those too embarrassed to ask.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

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