Robin Rinaldi - The Wild Oats Project

“GOOD GIRL SEEKS EXPERIENCE” began the Craigslist ad in the Casual Encounters w4m section. “I’M A 44-YEAR-OLD PROFESSIONAL, EDUCATED, ATTRACTIVE WOMAN IN AN OPEN MARRIAGE, SEEKING SINGLE MEN AGE 35-50 TO HELP ME EXPLORE MY SEXUALITY.”

In her memoir The Wild Oats Project, magazine journalist Robin Rinaldi reveals what inspired her to write that ad and describes what followed. In candid detail, Rinaldi recounts the year she spent living two separate lives—weekdays apart from her husband of 18 years, searching for new lovers and sexual fulfillment, weekends at home with him.

An open marriage was not what Rinaldi had envisioned for herself as she approached her early forties. For years she had longed for a baby, and starting a family had been a priority—one her husband did not share. So when he informed her one day that he wanted a vasectomy she decided she could only remain married on her terms. If she could not experience motherhood, she would seek out other adventures. Thus began a year-long open marriage involving two San Francisco apartments, twelve new lovers, three months living at a sex commune, membership in a neo-tantra group, and participation in a deeply healing women’s circle.

The Wild Oats Project, although riddled with heartbreak and unexpected revelations, proved to be just the remedy that Rinaldi needed. While she never conceived the baby she longed for, her year of self-discovery and midlife sexual awakening taught her that not all decisions need to be made with the mind, and when heeded, the body has a powerful voice of its own.

Robin Rinaldi has worked for newspapers and magazines for seventeen years. She has been the executive editor of 7x7, a lifestyle magazine covering San Francisco, and written an award-winning food column for Philadelphia Weekly. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times and O, among others.

Location: 

1 Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111
The Wild Oats Project: One Woman's Midlife Quest for Passion at Any Cost By Robin Rinaldi Cover Image
ISBN: 9780374290214
Availability: Out of Print
Published: Sarah Crichton Books - March 17th, 2015