This week Hephzibah Anderson spoke with Stephen Colbert about her recent memoir, Chastened: The Unexpected Story of My Year Without Sex.

Anderson’s memoir tells the story of her self-assigned year without sex, with the intention of gaining insight into the increasingly emotionally frustrating world of dating, love, and intimacy. She talks with Colbert about the events that led her to the idea to spend a year without sex: seeing her college ex-boyfriend walking into a diamond store with his “small blonde” fiancé and quickly realizing that it had been ten years since a man had told her, “I love you.” She embarks on her year-long project hoping to explore her needs and desires within relationships beyond sexual intimacy.

Read an interview with Anderson here in Memoirville for more about Anderson’s decision to spend a year chaste, her revelations, and her writing processes.

Tags: Chastened, Hephzibah Anderson, sex, Stephen Colbert