Iranian author Roxana Shirazi’s first book, The Last Living Slut: Born in Iran, Bred Backstage
All throughout her life, Shirazi has faced difficulties with cultural turmoil, ranging from the Iranian political revolution that forced her to flee her native land to fitting into an unfamiliar London society and living the tumultuous life of a rock band groupie. As an outspoken female author from a culture in which women have rigid guidelines to live by, Shirazi chose not to shy away from such delicate topics; rather, she constantly reflected these themes in her articles, poetry, and prose. However, the explicit nature of her writing is precisely the reason why her memoir was not published until now, when Igniter Books publishers Neil Strauss and Anthony Bozza bravely decided to help her publish this honest and moving account of female sexuality in a Muslim world.
Based on an exclusive excerpt of the book, it is clear that The Last Living Slut is indeed “dirtier than [Strauss’] The Dirt” and “makes Pamela DesBarres’ I’m With the Band read like a nun’s diary in comparison.”
The excerpt opens with shocking detail of Shirazi’s recent abortion that is just a preview of the even more disturbing descriptions that are yet to come.
“My abortion was thick and clumpy, heavier than a period,” Shirazi writes. “So I let it be, to run free. I wanted to liberate it. It was the remnants of my baby with someone I loved. I marched to forget, to numb and to deaden.”
With disturbing in-your-face descriptions of female sexuality and sexual encounters with the rock band, Shirazi does not spare the reader with censored accounts of her experiences. Each event was described with the utmost detail, each action meticulously written out.
“We kissed hard and grabbed each other like two savage animals. Sweat dripped off his tattoo-covered torso. He sucked and devoured my body as if I were a yummy chicken… I moaned as he roared into me, holding my round hips tightly,” Shirazi writes about her tour bus encounter with rocker Josh Todd.
However, The Last Living Slut is not just a recollection of Shirazi’s backstage activities. Shirazi clearly develops her character through the use of the engaging juxtaposition of dynamic descriptions of her actions with her personal viewpoints, thoughts, and feelings. In the excerpt, her need to be with Josh Todd is coupled with a personal narrative in which she says that her sadness could only be forgotten with more sex. Her constant return to life with the band is paired with her never-ending search for love and attention.
Perhaps most interestingly of all is the relationship between Shirazi and the other members of the band. It can be seen that there is an ongoing battle between Shirazi’s reluctance to hurt others and her own wishes and morals. She is constantly shown to hesitantly succumb to sex, despite times when it appears as though she would finally find the strength to refuse. The inclusion of internal conflicts uncharacteristic of a seemingly confident groupie makes the events in The Last Living Slut all the more captivating.
With short, choppy sentences overflowing with eye-popping detail that mesh smoothly together as a whole, Shirazi delves deep into her personal thoughts and allows the reader a chance to understand her attempts at justifying her actions. In doing so, Shirazi moves The Last Living Slut away from being a self-focused memoir and into a book that dauntlessly pierces the key issues of humanity and morality.
Shirazi shows a remarkable level of courage to take on such bold themes, all in her first book. The Last Living Slut sheds light on the true and uncensored backstage life of a groupie while strongly challenging the strict Middle Eastern cultural ideals forcefully imposed upon the everyday lives of Muslim women in the process.
Shirazi is deserving of great praise to have been willing to so bravely take on the challenge of writing on the delicate issues of cultural and gender taboos while providing dramatic details on very personal levels of her life. The Last Living Slut will no doubt stir up a great wave of controversy and offer a new perception on the question of female sexuality in the Muslim world after its U.S. release on June 1, 2010.
This women really lacks intelligence.
Avid Reader,
I have no choice but to respectfully question whether or not you even read this book. If you had, perhaps you would have more support for your claim. Roxana Shirazi is extremely well educated. She has a p.h.d. which she uses to gain prominence in the intellectual community for her oratorical skills & passion for women’s rights & gender equality. Shirazi is a woman who has had a number of sexual escapades, much like the male rock stars she admires [ for more then then what they offer sexually I might add]. I don’t here people calling Bono unintellegent because his philanthropic work outshadows the fact that he too has had multiple sex partners. Roxana Shirazi is a brave woman, who I as a fellow woman admire because, she has chosen to publish this book. As she has stated in interviews, I share with her the hope that this book will shatter the double-standards placed on women perpetuated by men & sadly other women.
Sincerely,
Miranda Cornelison
Roxana Shirazi is nothing but a sad, lonely,star [] who tries to use her education to make herself look like she is a feminist when all she does is belittle the word. Feminists’ have self respect and love themselves enough to sleep with real men with whom they have real connections. she is nothing but an aging groupie and should probably try her hand at real life and real grown up relationships.
And I might add rockstars who you claim have her same behavior do not base their careers on discussing groupie escapades, nor do they name drop for attention.
well whatever she is doing certainly got your attention didn’t it? What about Brett Michaels? He doesn’t name drop, he pants drops on national television for all to see and it doesn’t do anything but expand his fan base into the reality tv generation. Roxanna has slept with a lot of men, famous ones and regular ones. That’s her life, she wrote about & I respect it. Does Roxana not respect herself? I was under the impression that she respected herself so much she could be honest with herself and the world simultaneously. Her book does much more then detail her sexual escapades, she also delves into the inner-turmoil she experienced during all of these acts and is very insightful when describing certain events. The memoir isn’t about being lonely (which you are wrong about since Roxana has been married for a few years trying a normal relationship) or about sex, its about her relationship with both and how those relationships have shaped her.
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