“Men did not merely want. Men needed.”

Taddeo is interested in the way male desire is urgent and all-consuming. Furthermore, she notes that male desire is uninhibited and accepted in a societal sense, in a way that female desire is not.

“A friend of mine who thought menage a trois squalid and nearly despicable […] found Sloane’s story illuminating, raw, relatable. And it’s that relatability that moves us to empathize.”

Taddeo hopes that her readers will find moments of relatability and connection to Sloane, Maggie, and Lina. Female sexuality and desire tend to be viewed as problematic and uncomfortable, and Taddeo challenges this preconception. She chooses subjects who can reflect with honesty and humility on their experiences and urges readers to understand and empathize, rather than to judge.

“I didn’t want to know about my mother’s desire.”

Taddeo reflects on how little she knew of her mother’s sexuality, or her mother’s secret desires. Taddeo’s own discomfort when confronted with these details forced her to acknowledge the way that female desire is not as readily accepted in society. These reflections ultimately lead Taddeo to the idea for Three Women which aims to unflinchingly document and explore female desire.