Book Review: The Feminist Porn Book

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feminist porn, feminist porn wars, human sexuality, journalism, non-fiction, pornography, psychology, sexology

The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure

edited by Tristan Taormino, Constance Penley, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, and Mireille Miller-Young

genre: non-fiction, psychology, sexology, journalism, human sexuality

There were so many great essays in here, but I found some repetitive. Find out why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars!

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads)

The Feminist Porn Book brings together for the first time writings by feminists in the adult industry and research by feminist porn scholars. This book investigates not only how feminists understand pornography, but also how feminists do porn—that is, direct, act in, produce, and consume one of the world’s most lucrative and growing industries. With original contributions by Susie Bright, Candida Royalle, Betty Dodson, Nina Hartley, Buck Angel, and more, The Feminist Porn Book updates the debates of the porn wars of the 1980s, which sharply divided the women’s movement, and identifies pornography as a form of expression and labor in which women and other minorities produce power and pleasure.

Review

I was excited to read this book because I wanted to hear the debate about pornography from an open perspective that would talk about the issues on both sides. Unfortunately, this book isn’t so much about the debate about pornography, but more about feminist pornography. Although the book talks about how feminist pornography differs for some, it is more or less ethically produced pornography that emphasises genuine sexual pleasure on screen (particularly the womans and other oppressed sexual minorities). I had heard about feminist pornography and this book really filled me in on the history and big debates in the field. For that, I found it fascinating, but I also wish there was more talk about mainstream pornography.

My favourite essays were from porn-stars-turned-directors and a psychologist. It helped me work through ingrained beliefs I didn’t believe I had. For example, that female sex workers are always victims or have somehow been ‘damaged’. Even though there is most definitely exploited women in pornography, there are also women (hopefully not a small minority) that genuinely love what they do and have not experienced any kind of trauma in their upbringing. Even though I had accepted that idea, I hadn’t really processed it as well until I read some of these essays. As a psychology student, I really enjoyed the essay from the psychologist and learning how pornography was able to help her clients through their identity and self-esteem troubles. It was an eye-opener because I had never considered pornography as a possible tool for counselling.

Book Review: Perv by Jesse Bering

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book review perv, human sexuality, jesse bering, non-fiction, psychology, science, sexology, sexuality books

Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us

by Jesse Bering

genre: non-fiction, psychology, sexology, science, human sexuality

A great book exploring big topics in human sexual deviancy. Find out why I gave it 5 out of 5 stars!

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads)

Combining cutting-edge studies and critiques of landmark research and conclusions drawn by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, and the DSM-5, Bering pulls the curtain back on paraphilias, arguing that sexual deviance is commonplace. He explores the countless fetishists of the world, including people who wear a respectable suit during the day and handcuff a willing sexual partner at night. But he also takes us into the lives of “erotic outliers,” such as a woman who falls madly in love with the Eiffel Tower; a pair of deeply affectionate identical twins; those with a particular penchant for statues; and others who are enamored of crevices not found on the human body.Moving from science to politics, psychology, history, and his own reflections on growing up gay in America, Bering confronts hypocrisy, prejudice, and harm as they relate to sexuality on a global scale. Humanizing so-called deviants while at the same time asking serious questions about the differences between thought and action, he presents us with a challenge: to understand that our best hope of solving some of the most troubling problems of our age hinges entirely on the amoral study of sex.As kinky as it is compassionate, illuminating, and engrossing, Perv is an irresistible and deeply personal book. “I can’t promise you an orgasm at the end of our adventure,” Bering writes, “but I can promise you a better understanding of why you get the ones you do.”

Review

This book on sexual deviancy caught my attention and I’m glad it did. I love that it focused so much on the psychology of sex and desire and also morality/ethics of sexual desire and behaviour. It covers a great range of sexuality topics from sexual orientations, chronophilias (desired age ranges), paraphilias, and partialisms. Fascinating and weird fetishes were discussed (there was a case study of a man who sexually obsessed over used boots) but so were to the uncomfortable and confronting chronophilias: pedophilia and hebephilia.

Jesse, the author, shares his experiences as a homosexual man who was a closeted gay child in the 80s. He often compares the treatment of the homosexuals then to how we treat other sexual deviants today. I think using homosexuality in this way was smart because culture in developed nations has been changing its attitudes towards homosexuals and for the better. Will the disgust we hold for other sexual deviants also disappear in time with social change?

Book Review: Bonk by Mary Roach

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book review bonk, curious coupling of sex and science, human sexuality, mary roach, non-fiction, psychology, science, sexology, sexual physiology, sexuality book

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

by Mary Roach

genre: non-fiction, psychology, sexology, science, human sexuality

A decent book that covers a little bit of everything in the realm of sex science. Find out why I gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars!

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads)

The study of sexual physiology – what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better – has been a paying career or a diverting sideline for scientists as far-ranging as Leonardo da Vinci and James Watson. The research has taken place behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, MRI centers, pig farms, sex-toy R&D labs, and Alfred Kinsey’s attic.Mary Roach, “the funniest science writer in the country” (Burkhard Bilger of ‘The New Yorker’), devoted the past two years to stepping behind those doors. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Can a dead man get an erection? Is vaginal orgasm a myth? Why doesn’t Viagra help women or, for that matter, pandas?

In ‘Bonk’, Roach shows us how and why sexual arousal and orgasm, two of the most complex, delightful, and amazing scientific phenomena on earth, can be so hard to achieve and what science is doing to slowly make the bedroom a more satisfying place. 16 illustrations.

Review

I grabbed this book hesitantly. As someone who wants to learn a lot about sexology in a scientific and critical way, I was worried that this book would have too much pop-science. It was surprisingly enjoyable and I learned quite a bit.

The good: I really enjoyed the sexology history. There was a lot of content dedicated to sex researchers (like Kinsey and Masters) and their contributions to sexology and science. Even though I knew of the famous ones like Kinsey, I was happy to learn the details of their careers and achievements. I love reading research that is serious about sex. There is so much we have yet to learn because of how sex often makes people feel uncomfortable. And I’m grateful I learned more about these great researchers. I also liked how the author talked about the difficulties and barriers these researchers ran into as they tried to conduct their work.

Book Review: Sex at Dawn by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá

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cacilda jetha, christopher ryan, evolutionary theory, great sex books, human sexuality, monogamy, non fiction books, open relationships, psychology, sex at dawn

Sex at Dawn

by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá

genre: non-fiction,  sexuality, evolutionary theory

A controversial book with lots of great points. Find out why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars!

Summary

(Taken from Goodreads)

Since Darwin’s day, we’ve been told that sexual monogamy comes naturally to our species. Mainstream science–as well as religious and cultural institutions–has maintained that men and women evolved in families in which a man’s possessions and protection were exchanged for a woman’s fertility and fidelity. But this narrative is collapsing. Fewer and fewer couples are getting married, and divorce rates keep climbing as adultery and flagging libido drag down even seemingly solid marriages.

How can reality be reconciled with the accepted narrative? It can’t be, according to renegade thinkers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá. While debunking almost everything we “know” about sex, they offer a bold alternative explanation in this provocative and brilliant book.

Ryan and Jethá’s central contention is that human beings evolved in egalitarian groups that shared food, child care, and, often, sexual partners. Weaving together convergent, frequently overlooked evidence from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, the authors show how far from human nature monogamy really is. Human beings everywhere and in every era have confronted the same familiar, intimate situations in surprisingly different ways. The authors expose the ancient roots of human sexuality while pointing toward a more optimistic future illuminated by our innate capacities for love, cooperation, and generosity.

Review

Yep! We’re talking about SEX! So look away if you don’t like it.

As soon as I saw this book online, I knew that I had to read it. One of my personal interests is human sexuality, so much so that I am genuinely considering doing a masters in Sexology (or Human Sexuality) at one point in my life. I find it fascinating, and I find it even more fascinating that no one seems to talk about it openly.

Along with my personal interest in this field, I have a lot of strong personal beliefs about sexuality. This book supported a lot of these open, non-judgmental perspectives that I hold while also challenging me in a number of different ways. While I feel like there are definite holes in some of their arguments, this book is great food for thought and I’d encourage everyone to read it.