Tongue First

More about the book

Your perception of your body will change when you read this book. You will be pulling on your jeans or your black lace bra, & suddenly consider why you decorate yourself the way you do. You will drink wine with your friends, kiss your beloved, read a dirty magazine, go for a jog, & think about what your bodily behaviour says about your soul. And what it is doing to your soul. You will notice the defences you erect for yourself. Perhaps a tube of lipstick. Perhaps a tattoo? Perhaps an addiction. Testing the boundaries between fear and temptation, Emily Jenkins takes us on a journey from ordinary physical experiences (going to the dentist, putting on stockings) to extreme ones (snorting heroin, head shaving). She interviews people whose bodies are radically different from hers & enters communities where people share unusual ideas about physicality. Sometimes you will recognise your own habits. Other times you'll be shocked or repulsed. Always you will find yourself questioning the ordinary things you do, rethinking your relationship to your body.