I was photographing near Wilson and Magnolia in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood when I took this shot of five girls in August of 1974. Note the girl who appears to be about ten wearing a T-shirt that said, “The Sensuous Woman.” She probably bought it at one of Uptown’s many resale shops, most likely for fun, without fully understanding what it referred to.
“The Sensuous Woman” was a best-selling book published under the psuedonym of J. in 1969. Later, Joan Theresa Garrity revealed that she was the author. Garrity printed several editions of the book throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s. The publisher billed it as the author’s “explicit step-by-step account of her pursuit of the ultimate in sexual pleasure.”
The T-shirt could also have referred to Don Gibson’s last #1 country hit by the name of “Sensuous Woman” in 1972. The lyrics end with “…many hearts will break if I don’t conquer this lustful spell you cast over me.”
