473 pages and looking like the ultimate tomb of sexual knowledge, THE Sex & Pleasure Book was written by Sexologist Carol Queen and author and editor Shar Rednour. Published under the Good Vibrations name, this book was designed to be an all-inclusive book about sexuality – and not just the sex acts either. This book covers sex and aging, sex and disability, when sex doesn’t work, different types of dating relationships, long-distance tech, sex toys, pregnancy, sex positions, oral sex, sexual anatomy, and much, much more. With larger-type print that makes it easier to read and line art illustrations to show some concepts, this book definitely feels like the encyclopedia of sex.
Interested in what’s in the book? Here are the many chapter sections in the book (some of the sections have mini-sections, but I haven’t included those):
- Pleasure Is Your Birthright
- Be the Sexual Person You Want To Be
- You Are a Sexual Individual
- Throwing Off the Shackles: Fear and Shame
- Sex: What Is It Good For? Absolutely Everything!
- Sex-Positivity
- Getting What You Want
—Communication
—Desire + Safety = Free-Flowing Pleasure - GPS For the Body: An Erogenous Map of Your Pleasure Parts
—Pleasure and Physiology: Take Off Your Clothes and Get Out Your Highlighters
—Since We’re Talking Bodies: Self-Exam for Health & Life - Orgasm
—The Emotional and Mental Side of Orgasms: What’s So Sexy about the Brain?
—The Sexual Response Cycle
—Are You Rising To the Occasion? Techniques for Orgasm
—Men (and Some Trans Folk) And Orgasm
—Is Orgasm Necessary?
—PC Exercises for Stronger Orgasms & Pelvic Health - How Do I feel Pleasure? Let Me Count the Ways!
—Masturbation
—Kiss and Tell
—Touching
—Oral Sex
—Heads Up! Fellatio
—Going Down: Cunnilingus
—Come Hither: Let Your Fingers Do The….
—The G-Spot
—Sexual Intercourse: The Big Bang Theory? Or Practice!
—Enjoying Anal Sex: Lubrication, Communication, and Relaxation
—Your Sex Clean-Up Questions Answered - Sexual Positions
- Sex Toys: The Right Tool for the Job
—Vibrators: An Orgasmic Revolution!
—Couples’ Toys
—Ben Wa Balls, Pleasure Balls, Kegel Balls, Vaginal Balls
—Trans Toys & Gender Expression
—Dildos
—Harnesses
—Cock Rings
—Penis Sleeves
—Pumps
—Penis Extenders and PPAs (Penile Prosthetic Attachments)
—Sensual Touch Products & Toys
—Proper Toy Storage
—How To Clean Toys - Rabbits, Wands, & Rockets: The Magical Business of Pleasure Products
- More Ways to Have Sex
—Sex and Water: Bathing, Pools, Intercourse, & More
—Sex & Food
—Hot Talk & Role Play
—BDSM and Other Kinks
—Fetish Fun for Everyone
—Ecosexual & Ecorotic
—Threesomes, Swinging, Sex Parties, and Orgies, Oh My!
—Tantra and Sacred Sex
—Long Distance Sex and Technology: It’s Not So Beta Anymore! - Enhancing Your Sex Life with Porn and Erotica
—How to Watch Sexy Movies
—Genres and Categories
—Porn is Not Sex Ed
—Feminist Porn
—Making Your Own Sexy Movies
—Crawl Into Bed with a Good Book - Sexy Setbacks – To Be Honest, I Don’t Want to Have Sex (or Maybe I Can’t!)
- STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection) Facts
- Disability and Sex
—Effects on Sexual Functioning
—Sex Surrogate Therapy - Dating, Mating, and Relating
—Stages and Ages: Sexuality For a Lifetime
—Virginity
—Sex with the Lights On
—Finding Partners (and Deciding What to Do With Them Once You’ve Got Them)
—Consent & Its Discontents
—Do I Have Enough Sex? Is It Good?
—I Want Do-Overs: Communicating Desires Once You’re Already Partnered
—Communicating New Desires
—Polyamory and Open Relationships
—Pregnancy
—It Starts With You: Sex Smart Parenting for Happier and Healthier Children
—Entering the Dating Scene After Divorce
—Sober Sex: AKA Wild and Crazy Sex – That You Actually Remember! - Sexy Senior Years
- A Letter from Shar About the Future of Sex
The book wasn’t designed to be detailed in any one particular sexual topic. Yes, this is a very thick book – surprisingly so, actually. However, none of the information is particularly detailed. This is for the best. This allows the book to be genuinely comprehensive without being over 2,000 pages. So if you want a good general overview of LITERALLY everything involving sex, this book is fantastic. If you want a step-by-step guide to rope bondage, however, this one is not going to be the best pick.
Each topic still gets a decent amount of page time, though. Expect most of the topics to include at least a page or two – or more if it seems important. The authors did a good job of clarifying the basic, important information without going into too much detail. For example, each one of the STIs gets information about how you get it, what the symptoms are, how you prevent it, and how you treat it. It’s nothing in extreme detail, but it gets the entire point across.
As you can imagine, the more mainstream and relevant the topic is for more people, the more page time the topic gets. Information about sex toys, harnesses, oral sex, sex positions, and other similar, vanilla-esque topics tend to have a lot more of the book space than information about how to talk to your children about sex or how to find a dating partner. This works out fine as the book still covers both aspects – it just devotes more detail to the topics that are more likely to effect more people.
I’m really, really impressed by the illustrations in the book. The illustrator has a clear, line-art type of style to it, but all of the humans drawn seem relatively body-positive. They’re cute little chibi-type characters, but the body types are AMAZING. There are illustrated people shown of all types: amputees, back braces, strap-on sex, unshaven women, unshaven men, larger bodies, muscular bodies – everything. Fantastic job by the illustrator on really getting a nice assortment of illustrated types of people to really represent the concepts.
Of course, illustrations vary in gender too. Transgender, homosexual, straight, and other types of couples are all represented. It isn’t just “in a chapter” either. For example, there’s a chapter on having sex with a disability, but the illustrations show amputees in other “general” chapters like the sex positions chapter as well. The same can be said for strap-on sex and other types. Fantastic!
The target audience for this book seems to be the type of person who really wants to learn more about all of the aspects of sex. The book is written in a way that would be appropriate for an older teen to read as their “intro to sex” – and they’d definitely be a well-informed teen after this one too. Adults will enjoy reading this one as well; whether you want a reference book on all of the aspects of sex or just want to read through the entire book, THE Sex & Pleasure Book covers almost all of the non-fetish sexual topics I can think of.
Overall, for a good book filled with a lot of information about sex, THE Sex & Pleasure Book is fantastic. The writing and illustrations make a great attempt at being all-inclusive, the book covers such a huge range of topics, and it’s written in a very friendly and accepting manner. While it’s not very detailed in any one particular topic and you might want to pick up another book about your topic if you find your interest piqued while reading this one, it provides a very comprehensive look over the range of sexuality and sexuality topics. Thanks to Good Vibrations for providing this comprehensive sex-ed book for my THE Sex and Pleasure Book review.
