The Joy of Sex
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| Author | Alex Comfort |
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| Subject | Human sexuality |
| Genre | Sex manual |
| Publisher | Crown |
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Publication date
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1972 |
The Joy of Sex is an illustrated sex manual by British author Alex Comfort, first published in 1972. An updated edition was released in September 2008.
The Joy of Sex spent eleven weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list and more than 70 weeks in the top five (1972–1974).
The original intention was to use the same approach as such cook books as The Joy of Cooking, hence section titles include "starters" and "main courses". The book features sexual practices such as oral sex and various sex positions as well as bringing "further out" practices such as sexual bondage and swinging to the attention of the general public.
The original version was illustrated with a mixture of classical Indian and Japanese erotica and specially commissioned illustrations by Chris Foss (black-and-white line drawings) and Charles Raymond (colour paintings). These two artists based their work on photographs taken by Chris Foss, of Charles Raymond and his wife. The illustrations have become somewhat dated, mainly because of changes in hairstyles. Both the illustrations and text are titillating as well as illustrative, in contrast to the bland, clinical style of earlier books about sex. More recent editions feature new artwork, and added text emphasizing safer sex.
Newer versions have reversed previously-supportive positions on topics such as swinging, due to extensive textual changes made at the height of the 1980s AIDS panic.
A pocket book version entitled, The Joy of Sex, the Pocket Edition was also published. The book won the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year in 1997.
The Joy of Sex did not address homosexual sex beyond a definitional level. Though there was a careful (for the day) treatment of bondage, other BDSM activities received definitional coverage at best. The book played a part in what is often called the sexual revolution.
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