To cure her addiction to romance, she gave up sex

June 7, 2025

After a string of failed relationships, the writer Melissa Febos took a vow of celibacy. Her new memoir, “The Dry Season,” chronicles her year without sex and her search for self-knowledge.

Melissa Febos, wearing a white T-shirt, sits on a deep-yellow couch, wooden bookshelves full of books behind her.

Thalassa Raasch for The New York Times

Throughout, she posed the question: What if all a woman needs to be happy is herself? →

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