Kerry Cohen

Kerry Cohen received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon and an MA in counseling psychology from Pacific University. A practicing psychotherapist and the author of the young adult novel Easy, her new book is Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity.

From a Q & A at the publisher's website:

Q: What is a loose girl?

A: A loose girl is a girl who has been badly emotionally hurt and attempts to ease that hurt through male attention and sexual behavior. She yearns to feel worthwhile, which she usually defines as worth loving. She is not wantonly or gratuitously trying to get sexual attention. She doesn’t simply “want it.”

Q: What sparked your intense need for attention, and why do you think sex seemed like the way to fulfill it?

A: It began with not getting enough attention at home, a circumstance that stemmed from my parents’ unique personalities and limitations, and also from broader factors like my parents’ divorce and my mother’s moving to the Philippines to pursue her career. These events coincided with my sexual awakening—I was 11 and 12—so I was keenly tuned in to what seemed to make me feel better emotionally. Sex and male attention were right there. They came after me, really. It would have taken more effort to resist than to give in and feel for awhile like I was loveable.

Q: At what point did you realize that you had a different relationship with male attention than other women did?

A: [read on]

Visit Kerry Cohen's website.

--Marshal Zeringue