Mar 17, 2013

Simple Sexy Food – Book Review

By Linda De Villers. Yet another book about the connection between food and sex? Thankfully, this is more than that overstated and obvious duo. After an interesting discussion on aphrodisiacs and their history, the book plunges into some 90 pages delightfully describing an extensive list of foods, drinks and spices. It recounts folklore, historical uses and then nutritional value for each, connecting... read more

Jan 29, 2013

Women Who Love Sex: an Inquiry into the Expanding Spirit of Women’s Erotic Experience – Book Review

By Gina Ogden. Here is that book that will really get you thinking that there is more to sex than meets the eye, and even the genitalia, for that matter. For those women who are ready to take orgasming to another level, or would like to hear about others who have managed to do so, here is a book that will at times leave you with your mouth agape. It is not a sex guide, nor as the title may suggest, tales... read more

Oct 10, 2012

Rewriting the Rules – Book Review

By Meg Barker. Trying to embark on as mammoth a task as writing an Integrative Guide to Love, Sex and Relationships as the by-line goes, is incredibly ambitious but a good attempt was made, albeit in under 200 pages. How was this possible? With tiny print, so tiny that you may want to give up the attempt long before you reap its benefits. My only advice, push through and it starts looking legible after 50... read more

Sep 12, 2012

My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies – Book Review

By Nancy Friday. This is an old book – it was first published in 1973! – but it does not feel old. It spells out women’s fantasies, play by play, leaving you feeling that absolutely everything goes. All you need to do is to substitute Matthew McConnaughey for whichever man they had back then, and this book is good as new. The original fantasies were collected over 30 years ago, and with each new... read more

Sep 6, 2012

Sex For One: The Joy of Self-Loving – Book Review

By Betty Dodson. Sex For One, in its third rewrite, is a guide to masturbation, intertwined with memoirs of Betty Dodson’s sexual development. Listening to some people’s sexual tales is just a form of voyeurism, but in this case, it’s a real lesson in liberation. First published 1974 under the title Liberating Masturbation, this is the book that made Dodson into an icon of female sexuality. The idea here... read more

Jul 28, 2012

In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women – Book Review

By Laura Eldridge. I was glad to delve into this up-to-the-minute guide to what’s out there in the way of contraceptive options on the market, because every feminist knows that contraception is a political need that desperately calls for development. But I wasn’t expecting it to be a particularly interesting read. Well, I take my hat off to Laura Eldridge who managed it with finesse, bringing... read more

May 30, 2012

The Ultimate Guide to Orgasm – Book Review

Mikaya Heart. Excuse the pun if I call this a book with a huge heart. Her guide will make it clear to you that Mikaya Heart is a great sexuality educator and a woman who knows how to convey what she knows. Using her voice as well as the voices of others, this book provides an intricate picture of what orgasm means to women and shares details that can only help other women to find an orgasm or to repair... read more

Mar 26, 2012

Manuela’s Manual: Intimate Bodycasting – Book Review

Manuela Lollenbeck. Body casting is an unusual hobby, and genital casting is even more marginal. So why would someone feel the need to teach such an activity? Simply, because its fun and erotic, and there will always be a market for that, albeit a small one with huge initiative. Lollenbeck is a sculptor who took on a project of creating some 60 vulva casts, an undertaking that afforded her a unique level... read more

Dec 13, 2011

Marriage Confidential – Book Review

Pamela Haag. The catchy yet tabloidy titled work, Marriage Confidential is better represented by its sub-title “The Post-Romantic Age of Workhorse Wives, Royal Children, Undersexed Spouses and Rebel Couples who are Rewriting the Rules”. Now that is a title: smart, intriguing and just part of the reason why this book is really worth reading cover to cover. Marriage Confidential takes a look at a phenomenon... read more

Nov 2, 2011

I’ll Show You Mine – Book Review

By Wrenna Robertson. Although this is not the first such publication of its kind, it is a welcome addition to the resources available to educated women and men about intrinsic female sexuality. I know of at least one other such book, Femalia, by Joani Blank (1993) but I’ll Show You Mine seems to provide a much fuller, less objectified experience by photgraphing two views of the vulva and including a... read more

Sep 6, 2011

Your Daughter’s Bedroom – Book Review

By Joyce T. McFadden. In a word, the impression that this book leaves is bold. It is a rare treat to read something related to parental sex education that doesn’t pussyfoot around the tough parts. It just demands we step up to the plate, face the hard balls flying at us and send back a winner. Delving into the book, though, I was initially given the sense that it would be yet another manifesto on... read more

Jul 18, 2011

Impossible Motherhood: Testimony of an Abortion Addict – Book Review

By Irene Vilar. The cover of book Impossible Motherhood is simple but alluring. It traces the outline of a woman with two lines, with the title and sub-title ‘Testimony of an Abortion Addict’ located where the pubic mons is. Then, there are three sets of red lines (each set has four lines with a fifth line diagonally striking them off to symbolise ‘five’) at where the figure’s vulva would be. I was... read more