What Do You Desire?

Sexual desire. The phrase alone holds such loaded, voluptuous power that the mere expression of it sounds like a come-on--a little pungent, a little smutty, a little comical and possibly indictable.

Everybody with a pair of currently or formerly active gonads knows about sexual desire. It is a near-universal experience, the invisible clause on one's birth certificate stipulating that one will, upon reaching maturity, feel the urge to engage in activities often associated with the issuance of more birth certificates.

"Listening to Noam Chomsky," said a psychologist in her 50s, "always turns me on."