A Curious History of Sex

Rarely have I read a book about sex with this much positivity, deeply researched data and excellent, easy to follow writing that doesn’t veer into “dumbing it down for the masses” territory nevertheless.

Kate doesn’t shy from taboo and difficult subjects, and her wonderful humor comes just in time to puncture the anger you might feel at some of the idiotic, unfair and dangerous practices and mores surrounding a subject that seems to cause most societies throughout the history – including ours – to lose their collective minds.

I happened to follow Kate on Twitter, entirely by accident of running into her widely and wildly popular titbits (teehee) on the same subject. When I heard her book has come out, I jumped on the chance to buy it, hoping she’ll be as good and astute a writer in long form. I was not disappointed. What I love the most about her writing (with her personality and writing style a very close second), is that she always does her research and includes all her sources, so you, the reader, can fact check and learn more if you’re so inclined.

In a field that’s mostly handled in a sensationalist manner, with a nudge and a wink, this book is a clear and vibrant voice of sanity, an example to all how true scientific research should be done, and just a ton of fun!

MS Lister covers (or should I say uncovers) just about everything. Well researched, well written and witty. Happy to recommend.

This book delivers for the reader who seeks to be diverted. Lister has done exhaustive research ferreting out exotic and unusual facts about nearly every conceivable aspect of sexuality. It’s fun and it it serves to keep us from taking sex too seriously. She delivers the material with humor rather than prurience. (I find it difficult to imagine anyone reading it as erotica in order to get stimulated, when porn is free and easily fills that need.)
As a psychiatrist, I can see it being helpful for seeing our attitudes and judgments set in a historical context and she covers a vast amount of territory without going deeply into any one culture or era. If one is particularly interested in how Christianity has dealt with sex over the millenia, a specialized book like Elaine Pagel’s ” Adam, Eve and the Serpent” would be more helpful.
And if one is conflicted about sex and wants direction, just be aware that this book is for entertainment, and does a good job with that limited goal.

Probably More Information Than Wanted

For me, the most interesting section of this illustrated History of Sex was the chapter titled French Letters, English Raincoats and Mrs Phillips Wares: A History of the Condom. I suppose the fact Im a male colored my interest in various sections. We tend to read what interests us the most.
Ditto for the hundreds of excellent B&W and color illustrations throughout the thick volume. The funniest section involved the obscene action of women riding bicycles. Talk about stupid theories. But the porn industry of the time quickly released hundreds of nude postcards of laughing Victorian women posing on various kinds of bicycles and unicycles.
The author also includes 100 pages of notes and an index. The only fault this reader found with the history book was that it included more information than I wanted.

This was unreadable. I thought it would be an interesting history based on facts, but instead it was full of the authors personal opinions which were focused on explaining how wrong past generations were for not recognizing the multitude of genders in existence and the like.

If you are interested in the authors personal rants against injustices in the past, this is the book for you.

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