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Sex Educationmay be over, butGillian Andersonisnt done plumbing the depths of female sexuality.
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But what she couldnt anticipate was just how challenging it would be to chronicle herownfantasies.
It was just the physical act of writing such intimate stuffeven writing down particular words, she says.
I was so shocked by my shock.
Anderson in a custom vulva-print Gabriela Hearst dress at the 2024 Golden Globes
Vogue:How did you conceive of the idea forWant?
Gillian Anderson:Actually, it was an idea that came from my literary agent.
She had the idea about asking women to send in their fantasies anonymously.
She was very familiar withMy Secret Gardenand actually still had her mothers copy from the 70s.
How did you narrow those submissions down?
Once we settled on what those headings might be, it made it easier to group the submissions.
[We] wanted to confirm that the breadth of representation was vast.
We could have put a lot more in, but we didnt want it to be too thick.
There would be so many headlines if I drew too much from my own life and talked too personally.
That didnt feel too vulnerable.
It definitely felt vulnerable to write down one of my fantasies.
So I was surprised that I found it so challenging to put mine down on a page.
It wasnt so much that I was going to be handing it to somebody.
It was just the physical act of writing such intimate stuffeven writing down particular words.
I was so shocked by my shock.
That slightly disturbed me, actually, because I think about myself differently.
But, obviously, I went through with it and leaned into it and continued to expand and explore.
And my fantasyor one of my fantasiesis in the book.
Anything outside of that has almost become taboo because its unacceptable or ugly or easy to judge.
I think its bigger than just saying that its sex.
What surprised you the most about putting this book together?
Im surprised at how vulnerable women made themselves to make it write these letters.
But also, there is power to do what we want in life, on our own terms.
I think that one can inform the other, on some level.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
