A Pair of Daring Forays Into Feminine Territory

They are women; hear them roar.

Female bodies and sexuality are the subject of two recent audio books, the first of which should be required reading for young women. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Natalie Angier takes us on a brilliant romp through our innards with “Woman: An Intimate Geography.” (NewStar Media; abridged nonfiction; four cassettes; six hours; $25; read by Gabrielle de Cuir.)

In this “exploration based on science,” Angier explains our bodies in revolutionary, biological and cultural terms. She includes art, literature, mythology and personal anecdotes. Her opinions, decidedly feministic (dare we say humanistic?) are never far from the surface.

As this biology writer for the New York Times debunks fiction and demystifies the complexity of gender, she also tears down stereotypes. Scientists have recently discovered that women are not necessarily programmed to be monogamous, as most of us believe. It is more likely that in order to propagate the species, our ancestors were less than discriminatory about the number of their mates.

Listeners may be amazed at their ignorance of the female body and delighted by the author’s joyful exhortation that we increase our knowledge. For instance, it is doubtful that most women, or men, know that the clitoris is the only part of the human body designed simply for pleasure. It serves no other purpose. Angier reveals that tidbit with such thinly disguised glee and elegant prose that you cannot help feeling exhilarated by the simple act of learning.

This is an audio one can hear and then pop into the stereo again a week later, gleaning something new the second time around. It is too bad, then, that so little of Angier’s original material made it onto the recording. Some chapters are included in their entirety, but so much was abridged that we can only hope NewStar will put narrator Gabrielle de Cuir back in the studio with all of the book before her.

Though the listener is cheated out of too many of Angier’s witty essays, hearing her words aloud almost makes up for the loss. De Cuir has a sweet, feminine voice that nonetheless often reveals iron beneath its velvet tones. Her unerring timing captures the text’s wry humor and its undercurrents of anger at such subjects as the genital mutilations still perpetrated against women in other parts of the world.

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Much more radical is Susie Bright’s “Full Exposure.” (Harper Audio; abridged nonfiction; two cassettes; three hours; $18; read by the author.)

Dubbed “the X-rated intellectual” by the media, Bright has made a career of writing candidly about sexuality. So candidly that the personal becomes very much the political, and vice versa, throughout her audio.

Bright maintains that the erotic is at the heart of all forms of expression, from cooking to writing to painting. As she connects all aspects of life to sexuality, you realize her doctrine is one part personal liberation, another part cultural revolution.

Covering a lot of ground, she speaks of honest and practical discussions with children regarding sexuality, of bomb scares aimed at shutting her up, of becoming better lovers and better people through open sexual expression. She includes an “erotic manifesto,” in which she urges us to “assume everyone is sexual” and “talk about sex everywhere.”

However, her focus is scattered as she argues that sexuality is the soul of the creative process. Readers acquainted with Bright will hear repetition from her past writings, and newcomers should be warned that Bright holds nothing back, from tales of her first orgasm to a rather earthy use of language. Bright writes with an in-your-face attitude that comes across in her narration. Don’t misunderstand; she does not shriek her message, nor is her manner harsh. She has a soft, feminine voice that is so average she sounds like Anywoman from Anywhere. It is actually a bit of a hoot to hear such strong sentiments delivered from a woman who sounds so unremarkable. As Bright is accustomed to public speaking, she knows how to maintain pace, though she does succumb to the odd awkward pause and occasional overemphasis.

The original material is slim, so little is missing from the abridgment.

Rochelle O’Gorman reviews audio books every other week. Next week: Margo Kaufman on mystery books.