In March 2022, Emba released her book
Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, published through
Sentinel. The book discusses
sexual ethics, focusing on
sexual consent,
casual sex, and
sexual liberation. In the same month, she wrote an opinion essay in
The Washington Post titled "Consent is not enough. We need a new sexual ethic", taking excerpts from her book. In
Rethinking Sex, Emba argues that the increased access to casual sex in our modern, sexually liberated society has left people—particularly women, but also men—feeling unhappy and unsatisfied. Emba states that while consent in sex is necessary, it is not enough; since even consensual sex can leave people feeling unhappy, she argues, consent cannot be "the only rule". In the
progressive Christian magazine
Sojourners, Jennifer Martin praised Emba's identification of the problems in modern dating and her advocacy for a sexual ethic based on mutual goodwill, but criticized the book for "reiterating gender roles and differences, decrying kink culture and casual sex, and attaching the values of purity to our sexual encounters". Martin, as well as Anna Iovine of
Mashable, was also critical of the fact Emba's book only discussed the sex of
cisgender heterosexuals. Iovine wrote in Mashable that Emba "doesn't discuss
queer or
trans casual sex at all. As a
bi woman, that leaves out a significant chunk of my experiences and that of others." == References ==