Book Club #45: Come Back To Bed by Robert Tennent

Robert Tennent was born in Cambodia, lived in St Lucia and Papua New Guinea before settling in New Zealand in 2013. Tennet studied fashion and spacial design. Robert has released a book that revolves around the rediscovery and exploration of sex after a sexual assault. In early 2017, Tennent was unprotectedly sexually assaulted. He tested himself immediately and the test results came back negative. He entered a period of celibacy that lasted 5 months. After his assault Tennent became an introvert for a few months before he was comfortable again. 

“In those 5 months, I took care of myself physically and mentally by attending ACC counselling sessions. I was ready to introduce sex into my life again. Consensual sex. Protected sex. I dated men with the intent of getting to know them and this went well. When it came time to have sex with them, I put my trust in them and we had beautiful times together. Afterwards, I pulled my camera out and took a photo of him. I took a few more. I kept these for myself because I wanted to remember that memory and how I felt when I was with him. I then did this to the next boy, and then the next. It’s coming up to a year since I started taking photos of the men I have slept with. And I compiled them all into a book. The book is called ‘Come Back To Bed’ and it contains stories and photographs of the men I spent time with. I want to be able to help people and make their healing process easier.”

Contact:

roberttennent.bigcartel.com
Instagram: @rob.tennent