The edge of the bed

Lisa Palac charts her dizzying course from midwestern Catholic schoolgirl to anti-smut crusader to sex-positive feminist and cutting-edge pornographer. Along the way, she explores the liberating effects of pornography, the eroticism of religion, the unprecedented sexual honesty created by cyberspace and the persistent myths about masculinity and femininity. She asks the questions so many women - and men - have asked themselves, such as: Why do sexual desires and sexual politics rarely agree?

What makes danger so appealing? And is there too much sex in pop culture or just too much sexual hypocrisy?