{{Short description|American author (born 1934)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2013}} thumb|Garrity in 1973. '''Joan Theresa Garrity''' (born January 15, 1934<ref>{{cite web |title=Voter Reference｜Joan Theresa Garrity |url=https://voteref.com/voters/FL/view/c9757160-d830-4754-b123-791a586aade4 |website=voteref.com |access-date=17 April 2024}}</ref>) is an American author, best known as the author of ''The Sensuous Woman''.
==Background and education==
Garrity was raised in Lee's Summit, Missouri,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=110633|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310210615/http://www.kclibrary.org/localhistory/media.cfm?mediaID=110633|url-status=dead|title=Kansas City, MO Library bio|archivedate=March 10, 2007}}</ref> and studied at Palm Beach Junior College in Florida. She worked on the staff of publisher Lyle Stuart and published a book about shopping in New York.
==Career== In 1969 she published, under the pseudonym of "J.", ''The Sensuous Woman'', subtitled "the first how-to book for the female who yearns to be all woman". It was also published as ''The Way to Become the Sensuous Woman''. The book spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list and nearly a year on the list overall.<ref>John Bear, ''The No. 1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times bestsellers since the first list, 50 years ago'', Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 1992</ref> In later editions, she used the name Terry Garrity. A spoken-word record album was made in 1969, based on the book, called ''J – The Way To Become A Sensuous Woman''.<ref>Voxpop, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311141307/http://www.voxpopmusic.com/ViewProdDetails.asp?prod_code=11676&Prod_name=The+Way+To+Become+A+Sensuous+Woman&CAT_CODE=15&SUBCAT_CODE=36 "J – The Way To Become A Sensuous Woman" (LP)]}}</ref><ref>Hyp Records, [http://www.hipwax.com/music/oddpop/sex_ed.html "The Amorous Arts"]</ref>
In 1977, she published ''Total Loving: how to love and be loved for the rest of your life'', and in 1984, ''Story of "J": the author of The Sensuous Woman tells the bitter price of her crazy success'', with her brother John Garrity as co-author. In this book she and her brother discuss how she coped with depression.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/terry-with-john-garrity-garrity/story-of-j-the-author-of-the-sensuous-woman-tel/#:~:text=With%20an%20assist%20from%20her%20brother%2C%20the%20once-notorious,mood%20swing%22%22%20into%20a%20decade%20of%20mental%20illness | title=Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * Bill Althaus, "Putting 'J' behind Her: For Terry Garrity, Success Was Almost Fatal", ''Kansas City Magazine'', October 1984
== External links ==
* [https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002p8nt <nowiki>Portrait of Terry [Joan Theresa] Garrity in playful pose, 1973.</nowiki>] Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrity, Terry}} Category:American relationships and sexuality writers Category:20th-century American women writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:People from Lee's Summit, Missouri Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:American women non-fiction writers Category:21st-century American women Category:1940s births Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)