In the early entries within “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath,” the reader begins to decipher her conflicted feelings regarding men. She describes the absurdities of dating and the daunting disappointments of sexual attraction without outlet. At the time she was living women weren’t allowed to explore their sexuality without strong societal censure.
Sylvia Plath was learning the secrets of women in how to garner attention and be desired by men. Her words paint a picture of both sexual tension and sexual frustration. I think that a lot of people can identify with how she felt. And, when digging deeper, many readers also identify the impacts of her absent father figure and how the shadow of not having a loving father figure persisted as something to be chased into adulthood.
A quote: “There was more small talk, more laughing, sidelong glances, more of the unspoken physical friction that makes each new conquest so delightful. In the air was the strong smell of masculinity which creates the ideal medium for me to exist in.”