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Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today's Sexual Culture
In Best Sex Writing 2012, sex columnist Rachel Kramer Bussel and noted commentator Susie Bright, this year's guest judge, collect the most challenging and provocative work on this endlessly evocative subject. Find out what's behind the latest political sex scandals in "Sex, Lies, and Hush Money," learn about how "Atheists Do It Better" and find out "Why Lying About Monogamy Matters." From an insider look at being gay in the military pre-DADT and an impassioned defense of circumcision to a dating site for people with STDs, nuanced explorations of teen sex laws, prostitution, sex at 66, SlutWalks, female orgasm workshops, and more, Best Sex Writing 2012 explores the smarter side of sexuality. This is bedtime reading for erotic intellectuals and those who want to go behind the latest leering headlines for real talk about the topic on everyone's lips.
Winner of IPPY (Independent Publisher) Gold Award for Sexuality/Relationships
Winner of IPPY (Independent Publisher) Gold Award for Sexuality/Relationships
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 10, 2012
About the author
Rachel Kramer Bussel
198 books1,111 followersI'm the editor of the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series and over 70 anthologies including The Big Book of Orgasms and Come Again: Sex Toy Erotica. I've also written a wide range of erotica about everything from French fries to fishnets. I write about books, culture, sexuality and relationships, teach erotica writing workshops and consult with erotica authors and sex writers to help them advance their careers. I read a wide range of genres, from erotica to romance to mystery to memoir to graphic novels and anything that strikes my fancy. See my website for my newsletter with book giveaways and writing samples.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 30, 2012
If I were allowed to retitle this book, I would call it "Best Sex Writing 2012: Essays for People Who Don't Read Everything on the Internet About Sexual Culture." Spoiler: I read Everything on the Internet.
I appreciate seeing authors I know and admire, who frequently publish online (or at least, that's where I read them), anthologized in this dead tree way. It lends a sense of permanence to the conversations that happened about sexual culture over the past year, which is a good thing.
However, as a Reader of the Internet, I know that many of these essays were part of much larger conversations, conversations which are pretty impossible to capture between two covers, on pages without hotlinks. I love books, but representing the best sex writing in this way feels flat to me. The best and worst parts of the state of today's sexual culture is that it plays out complexly, through links and online bitchery and critique, and that just wasn't happening here. For example: an essay about SlutWalk without a lot of dialogue, quotes, and argument with other sources of thought and rage is just not right-sized.
That said, the book is worth picking up for the pieces by Joan Price, Amber Dawn, and Lydia Yuknavitch, which are shiveringly good and make my skin tingle with sadness.
Thomas Roche and Tracy Quan's pieces on sex work totally have my heart. However, I was not so impressed with Marty Klein's piece on circumcision (thesis: getting cut is no big deal!) and the lack of regard for the concepts of consent and bodily autonomy, and Rachel Rabbit White's piece about trans latinas was a mess, mixing the LGB with the T in a bad and clunky way.
I appreciate seeing authors I know and admire, who frequently publish online (or at least, that's where I read them), anthologized in this dead tree way. It lends a sense of permanence to the conversations that happened about sexual culture over the past year, which is a good thing.
However, as a Reader of the Internet, I know that many of these essays were part of much larger conversations, conversations which are pretty impossible to capture between two covers, on pages without hotlinks. I love books, but representing the best sex writing in this way feels flat to me. The best and worst parts of the state of today's sexual culture is that it plays out complexly, through links and online bitchery and critique, and that just wasn't happening here. For example: an essay about SlutWalk without a lot of dialogue, quotes, and argument with other sources of thought and rage is just not right-sized.
That said, the book is worth picking up for the pieces by Joan Price, Amber Dawn, and Lydia Yuknavitch, which are shiveringly good and make my skin tingle with sadness.
Thomas Roche and Tracy Quan's pieces on sex work totally have my heart. However, I was not so impressed with Marty Klein's piece on circumcision (thesis: getting cut is no big deal!) and the lack of regard for the concepts of consent and bodily autonomy, and Rachel Rabbit White's piece about trans latinas was a mess, mixing the LGB with the T in a bad and clunky way.
April 22, 2012
I really liked this volume. It was not what I was expecting given the blatant title. It's not until you look at the subtitle "the state of today's sexual culture" that you realize what you'll be reading.
My only complaint is really about Susie Bright's essay, and even then it's a general complaint that could be applied elsewhere, not necessarily in this book but in other peoples' writing: While writing for a common audience is fine, and if you expect the readers reading you are going to have the same opinion as you then I get that as a writer you may feel free to be snarky and sarcastic and talk down to the opposing viewpoint which you're criticizing; however, while I am someone who does agree, sometimes, with Bright's viewpoints, I find it, in general, very annoying when people go to criticize opposing viewpoints but only take a snarky tone and general you're-an-idiot-attitude. I would prefer to see honest discussions even if the opposing viewpoint is deemed fallacious, stupid, or just plain wrong--give me facts and good information, not just a belittling tone because I don't believe that it will win your debate. Your followers may still agree and laugh with you, but you're not going to win converts in this discussion if you only belittle their viewpoints, regardless of their wrongheadedness or bad information.
My only complaint is really about Susie Bright's essay, and even then it's a general complaint that could be applied elsewhere, not necessarily in this book but in other peoples' writing: While writing for a common audience is fine, and if you expect the readers reading you are going to have the same opinion as you then I get that as a writer you may feel free to be snarky and sarcastic and talk down to the opposing viewpoint which you're criticizing; however, while I am someone who does agree, sometimes, with Bright's viewpoints, I find it, in general, very annoying when people go to criticize opposing viewpoints but only take a snarky tone and general you're-an-idiot-attitude. I would prefer to see honest discussions even if the opposing viewpoint is deemed fallacious, stupid, or just plain wrong--give me facts and good information, not just a belittling tone because I don't believe that it will win your debate. Your followers may still agree and laugh with you, but you're not going to win converts in this discussion if you only belittle their viewpoints, regardless of their wrongheadedness or bad information.
May 23, 2012
Lots of range in this baby. Lots of walls getting torn down. Super duper faves include story/essays by Chris Sweeney (premature ejaculation), Amber Dawn (butch girls and sex work), Joan Price (sex in her 60s), and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel (raunchy texting). I'm proud to have an essay in here too (about talking dirty). Thank you, Susie Bright!
February 15, 2012
Rachel Kramer Bussel (ed.), Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today's Sexual Culture (Cleis Press, 2012)
Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher.
I can't believe I did it. I took a review copy that came with a review deadline attached to it. What was I thinking? I have books sitting in the queue to be reviewed I finished last April, for heaven's sake, and here I am with a book of essays, and I have twenty-six days to read and review it? I cracked the cover, pored over the table of contens, and figured I could read two of the essays per day and give myself a week's lead time to write the review. And then I started reading. And I kept reading. And I was finished with the book well over a week ahead of schedule, and it looks like I may have the review turned in two weeks in advance of the due date. (Note: I would have, too, had I not kept tweaking it. This may not even be the final draft. There is so much to be said about this book!)
Okay, sure, I'll admit that reading about sex is probably going to go down a lot easier than a book of essays on, say, quantum physics. And it's pretty much a given that any book edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel is going to be a good read. Having Susie Bright as a guest editor is icing on the cake. But still, I didn't expect I'd be gulping down three or four essays in a single go. And yet I did that multiple times while reading this.
To get the first part of this out of the way as quickly as possible: Given that (a) any collection is probably going to be of varying quality, that (b) any collection of multiple-author nonfiction today is likely to contain memoir pieces, and that (c) memoir < other types of nonfiction, the conclusion (d), that there are going to be memoir essays in this book and that they will bring down the overall quality, is pretty easy to reach. That said, there's actually a decent memoir-style piece in here, “Love Grenade” by Lidia Yuknavitch. She actually gets the meaning of the term “creative nonfiction” in a way that emphasizes the “creative” part as “I'm going to use language in a less than straightforward way” rather than “I'm going to make shit up.” Far too few people get that. There are a few other memoir pieces in here, and none of them made me despair for the future of literate readers in the way that so many memoirs I've read in the past decade have, but most of the rest are pretty aggressively average.
The balance of the pieces, on the other hand, have to do with the state of today's sexual culture, as the subtitle indicates. They range from the titillating to the outrageous, and I use the latter term in the sense of “inspiring outrage”. It is an unfortunate consequence of the society we live in that my favorite pieces in the book, the most impassioned, are all of this stripe: Thomas Roche's “Men Who 'Buy Sex' Commit More Crimes: Newsweek, Trafficking, and the Lie of Fabricated Sex Studies” doesn't tell us anything we don't know about the increasing polarity of the media, but illustrates the dumbing-down process in the newsroom nicely; Ellen Friedrichs' “The Continuing Criminalization of Teen Sex” and Radley Balko's “You Can Have Sex with Them, Just Don't Photograph Them” examine the ludicrousness of magic-age laws with more sympathy than I've seen in a long, long time (and in the case of Friedrichs' piece, perhaps than I've ever seen); and while I'm probably more sensitive to the subject than most (we spent weeks gathering information and debating circumcision after finding out our now-three-month-old baby was going to be male), Marty Klein's “Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred As Public Policy” made me want to light the torch, grab the pitchfork, and take to the streets of California.
Not to say that the entire books is going to send you into an unrecoverable spiral of depression. Greta Christina's “Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex” is witty, concise, and fun, and if it may have a bit of smug triumph in its tone, well dagnabbit, it oughta. (Spoiler: Big Catholic Guilt makes for great fiction, but is largely a myth.) I'll admit that my great love for Camille Dodero's “Guys Who Like Fat Chicks” most likely stems from it hitting my personal buttons more than anything, but whether you're fond of the subject matter or not, Dodero's as good a writer as anyone else here, and presents her material in an engaging, winning fashion. Adrian Colesberry's “Adrian's Penis: Care and Handling” is just as funny as the name suggests, even if it does dip into memoir territory (though Colesberry, as well, understands that “creative” is the operative term in “creative nonfiction”). And I've mentioned less than half of the essays here. If you open the book to a random essay and start reading, you're probably going to come up with a winner.
While I singled out “Guys Who Like Fat Chicks” above and mentioned that's one of the “I identify with it” pieces, I should also mention Abby Tallmer's micro-history “Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture” as one that is about a kink that does nothing for me, yet is still absorbing reading. I promised myself I wouldn't spend this entire review simply summarizing Bussel's wonderful intro—which covered about 95% of what I wanted to say here—but I can't resist quoting this, which would serve as a perfect summary for any review of this book: “As an editor, I'm not only looking for pieces I agree with, or identify with, but for work that illuminates something new about a topic that's been around forever....What moves me most about [“Losing the Meatpacking District”] is that you don't have to be a New Yorker, queer, leather, or kinky to understand what she's talking about”. Bussel is absolutely right; it's about the quality of the writing, not the subject. Any subject can be made interesting, given the proper writer. (My favorite example of this, which I now have another chance to recommend to people who probably haven't heard of it, is Hodding Carter's Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization. A history of sewage, and it's as gripping as any nonfiction I've ever read.) Bussel and Bright's expertise in the selection and presentation of the wide range of topics covered here provides hard evidence of same. If only the guys in the pit at Newsweek remembered that. ****
Full disclosure: this book was provided to me free of charge by the publisher.
I can't believe I did it. I took a review copy that came with a review deadline attached to it. What was I thinking? I have books sitting in the queue to be reviewed I finished last April, for heaven's sake, and here I am with a book of essays, and I have twenty-six days to read and review it? I cracked the cover, pored over the table of contens, and figured I could read two of the essays per day and give myself a week's lead time to write the review. And then I started reading. And I kept reading. And I was finished with the book well over a week ahead of schedule, and it looks like I may have the review turned in two weeks in advance of the due date. (Note: I would have, too, had I not kept tweaking it. This may not even be the final draft. There is so much to be said about this book!)
Okay, sure, I'll admit that reading about sex is probably going to go down a lot easier than a book of essays on, say, quantum physics. And it's pretty much a given that any book edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel is going to be a good read. Having Susie Bright as a guest editor is icing on the cake. But still, I didn't expect I'd be gulping down three or four essays in a single go. And yet I did that multiple times while reading this.
To get the first part of this out of the way as quickly as possible: Given that (a) any collection is probably going to be of varying quality, that (b) any collection of multiple-author nonfiction today is likely to contain memoir pieces, and that (c) memoir < other types of nonfiction, the conclusion (d), that there are going to be memoir essays in this book and that they will bring down the overall quality, is pretty easy to reach. That said, there's actually a decent memoir-style piece in here, “Love Grenade” by Lidia Yuknavitch. She actually gets the meaning of the term “creative nonfiction” in a way that emphasizes the “creative” part as “I'm going to use language in a less than straightforward way” rather than “I'm going to make shit up.” Far too few people get that. There are a few other memoir pieces in here, and none of them made me despair for the future of literate readers in the way that so many memoirs I've read in the past decade have, but most of the rest are pretty aggressively average.
The balance of the pieces, on the other hand, have to do with the state of today's sexual culture, as the subtitle indicates. They range from the titillating to the outrageous, and I use the latter term in the sense of “inspiring outrage”. It is an unfortunate consequence of the society we live in that my favorite pieces in the book, the most impassioned, are all of this stripe: Thomas Roche's “Men Who 'Buy Sex' Commit More Crimes: Newsweek, Trafficking, and the Lie of Fabricated Sex Studies” doesn't tell us anything we don't know about the increasing polarity of the media, but illustrates the dumbing-down process in the newsroom nicely; Ellen Friedrichs' “The Continuing Criminalization of Teen Sex” and Radley Balko's “You Can Have Sex with Them, Just Don't Photograph Them” examine the ludicrousness of magic-age laws with more sympathy than I've seen in a long, long time (and in the case of Friedrichs' piece, perhaps than I've ever seen); and while I'm probably more sensitive to the subject than most (we spent weeks gathering information and debating circumcision after finding out our now-three-month-old baby was going to be male), Marty Klein's “Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred As Public Policy” made me want to light the torch, grab the pitchfork, and take to the streets of California.
Not to say that the entire books is going to send you into an unrecoverable spiral of depression. Greta Christina's “Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex” is witty, concise, and fun, and if it may have a bit of smug triumph in its tone, well dagnabbit, it oughta. (Spoiler: Big Catholic Guilt makes for great fiction, but is largely a myth.) I'll admit that my great love for Camille Dodero's “Guys Who Like Fat Chicks” most likely stems from it hitting my personal buttons more than anything, but whether you're fond of the subject matter or not, Dodero's as good a writer as anyone else here, and presents her material in an engaging, winning fashion. Adrian Colesberry's “Adrian's Penis: Care and Handling” is just as funny as the name suggests, even if it does dip into memoir territory (though Colesberry, as well, understands that “creative” is the operative term in “creative nonfiction”). And I've mentioned less than half of the essays here. If you open the book to a random essay and start reading, you're probably going to come up with a winner.
While I singled out “Guys Who Like Fat Chicks” above and mentioned that's one of the “I identify with it” pieces, I should also mention Abby Tallmer's micro-history “Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture” as one that is about a kink that does nothing for me, yet is still absorbing reading. I promised myself I wouldn't spend this entire review simply summarizing Bussel's wonderful intro—which covered about 95% of what I wanted to say here—but I can't resist quoting this, which would serve as a perfect summary for any review of this book: “As an editor, I'm not only looking for pieces I agree with, or identify with, but for work that illuminates something new about a topic that's been around forever....What moves me most about [“Losing the Meatpacking District”] is that you don't have to be a New Yorker, queer, leather, or kinky to understand what she's talking about”. Bussel is absolutely right; it's about the quality of the writing, not the subject. Any subject can be made interesting, given the proper writer. (My favorite example of this, which I now have another chance to recommend to people who probably haven't heard of it, is Hodding Carter's Flushed: How the Plumber Saved Civilization. A history of sewage, and it's as gripping as any nonfiction I've ever read.) Bussel and Bright's expertise in the selection and presentation of the wide range of topics covered here provides hard evidence of same. If only the guys in the pit at Newsweek remembered that. ****
January 14, 2012
"Best Sex Writing 2012," edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel with writing selected by Susie Bright lives up to its subtitle: "The State of Today's Sexual Culture." I was impressed by the range of voices in it. Standouts in the collection include Bright's funny missive on Ross Douthat, "Why Lying About Monogamy Matters" and entertaining stories about sexual escapades by both Adrian Colesberry (the footnotes are great) and Lidia Yuknavitch. There are straightforward stories about a lesbian exploring BDSM at a gay male club, fat admirers and the real life of a call girl. Bussel adds a clear-sighted note that people should not be ashamed to send each other sexts as long as they are consensual adults. Hugo Schwyzer's piece is unique and well-written. I especially liked this passage: "The hurt and rage that men feel as a result of having no sense of their own attractiveness has very real and destructive consequences. While both men and women often struggle to trust a partner's affirmation of their desirability, men are more likely to externalize that struggle as anger at women. Men's belief that 'women only pretend to want sex' is at the root of a lot of male rage, a rage that wives and girlfriends and lovers are forced to deal with all too often.'"
May 9, 2012
Best Sex Writing 2012 is comprised of captivating rumination, information, and investigation of a society displaying, as I see it, a severe misguidedness around the book's title subject. The variety between these pages is striking: exposes, memoir, research reports, entertainment, all mixed in with unflinching information--exactly what nonfiction literature is designed to serve. Ultimately, this book exemplifies a fearless, open discussion of sexuality that speaks of sex with consideration, enthusiasm, respect, curiosity, interest, reverence, scrutiny, and maturity--offering a volume as refreshing as it is relevant and compelling. I highly recommend it. (Full review at Good Vibrations Blog.)
January 21, 2012
It's simple math, isn't it? Start off with Rachel Kramer Bussel, add in Susie Bright, mix in the sex and you have yourself Best Sex Writing 2012.
Susie Bright selected the best of the best of the year passed, and her ability to read and choose has not waned since her departure from - and the untimely death of - The Best American Erotica. And Rachel Kramer Bussel is equally awesome.
The collection contains articles, essays, and pieces by Thomas Roche, Amber Dawn, Joan Price, Marty Klein, Susie Bright, and Rachel Kramer Bussel. The wind range of topics extends (no pun intended) the idiocy behind banning circumcision to rape culture to growing up queer in the Meatpacking District.
In Marty Klein's piece, "Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred as Public Policy," follows San Francisco's insane idea to outlaw circumcision in infants. It's the first - can I call it pro-circumcision? - positive circumcision piece I've read. It addresses the myths that anti-circumcision "activists" tout, and explains that any "physical" lacking a circumcised man feels is strictly psychological.
In "Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture," Abby Tallmer reminiscences about growing up in the Meatpacking District in the midst of the queer and leather nightclubs, reminding us to never take our presents for granted because they can simply be erased.
Both Susie Bright and Thomas Roche pieces attack the laughable "news reporting" of major newspapers that fail at fact checking and op-eds how the media fails our sexual society by filling people's minds with the Christian Right-wing agenda.
Greta Christiana, on the other hand, reports how a secular lifestyle might improve your sex life over a religious one. In "Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex," we learn that secular households tend to do it, well, better. Not only in the bedroom, but with raising children, as well. (You'll have to read the piece.)
"Grief, Resilience, and My 66th Birthday Gift" teaches us the sex life of an older woman and author, Joan Price. From finding someone to spend her life with, to the dynamic of her sex life to the grief she felt when he passed to regaining her sexual self afterward. The piece is possibly the best in the collection - in my humble opinion, anyway.
All in all, Best Sex Writing 2012 is worth the read and a place on your shelf or e-reader.
Susie Bright selected the best of the best of the year passed, and her ability to read and choose has not waned since her departure from - and the untimely death of - The Best American Erotica. And Rachel Kramer Bussel is equally awesome.
The collection contains articles, essays, and pieces by Thomas Roche, Amber Dawn, Joan Price, Marty Klein, Susie Bright, and Rachel Kramer Bussel. The wind range of topics extends (no pun intended) the idiocy behind banning circumcision to rape culture to growing up queer in the Meatpacking District.
In Marty Klein's piece, "Criminalizing Circumcision: Self-Hatred as Public Policy," follows San Francisco's insane idea to outlaw circumcision in infants. It's the first - can I call it pro-circumcision? - positive circumcision piece I've read. It addresses the myths that anti-circumcision "activists" tout, and explains that any "physical" lacking a circumcised man feels is strictly psychological.
In "Losing the Meatpacking District: A Queer History of Leather Culture," Abby Tallmer reminiscences about growing up in the Meatpacking District in the midst of the queer and leather nightclubs, reminding us to never take our presents for granted because they can simply be erased.
Both Susie Bright and Thomas Roche pieces attack the laughable "news reporting" of major newspapers that fail at fact checking and op-eds how the media fails our sexual society by filling people's minds with the Christian Right-wing agenda.
Greta Christiana, on the other hand, reports how a secular lifestyle might improve your sex life over a religious one. In "Atheists Do It Better: Why Leaving Religion Leads to Better Sex," we learn that secular households tend to do it, well, better. Not only in the bedroom, but with raising children, as well. (You'll have to read the piece.)
"Grief, Resilience, and My 66th Birthday Gift" teaches us the sex life of an older woman and author, Joan Price. From finding someone to spend her life with, to the dynamic of her sex life to the grief she felt when he passed to regaining her sexual self afterward. The piece is possibly the best in the collection - in my humble opinion, anyway.
All in all, Best Sex Writing 2012 is worth the read and a place on your shelf or e-reader.
April 10, 2012
(crossposted from ToyChickBlog.com)
I’m an anthology fiend. The idea of one book with many stories is an amazing thing to me, like stacking dolls full of interesting concepts. That said, the idea of an anthology written with sex as a central theme is even more appealing.
My beloved smut shelf is full of other tomes of Bussel’s editorial endeavors (Yes, Sir is lovingly dog-eared by now) so I knew I was in for a treat when I got the virtual book tour email I was anxiously awaiting. Best Sex Writing 2012 is not “smut” per se, despite its place on the aforementioned shelf – it’s actually a very well assembled collection of pieces about sex and sexual culture that forces the reader to think. I’ve had my head buried in erotica and sci-fi for so long, I’d nearly forgotten what informative writing “felt” like, and I’ve just been quite pleasantly reminded.
These are not dry facts and figures, news stories that you’d gloss over in search of something more engaging. These are works that sit up and demand you join them, leading the reader on a journey through cultural and intellectual territory. My usual detachment got tossed over a shoulder as I settled in for tales of congressional misconduct, a rare voice in support of circumcision, and a surprisingly touching story of a widow’s encounter with an erotic masseur that made me tear up halfway through. This year’s edition starts out with insightful words from the editrix and a foreword from another great anthology-wrangler, Susie Bright. Twenty-four gems lurk between the pages, ready to educate the reader in everything from LGBT and queer culture to media misconceptions on buzz-worthy topics like sex work and dating with STDs.
An excellent mix of familiar this-is-my-life stories interspersed with broader treatments of headline-making movements and figures, I’d be surprised if readers of any bent don’t find at least a handful of pieces here that grab their attention and refuse to let go. If you’re looking for an interesting read, do yourself a favor and snag a copy of Best Sex Writing 2012. Your hand may not end up down your pants while you’re reading, but don’t be surprised to find it in your hair. Stimulation, after all, comes in many different forms.
I’m an anthology fiend. The idea of one book with many stories is an amazing thing to me, like stacking dolls full of interesting concepts. That said, the idea of an anthology written with sex as a central theme is even more appealing.
My beloved smut shelf is full of other tomes of Bussel’s editorial endeavors (Yes, Sir is lovingly dog-eared by now) so I knew I was in for a treat when I got the virtual book tour email I was anxiously awaiting. Best Sex Writing 2012 is not “smut” per se, despite its place on the aforementioned shelf – it’s actually a very well assembled collection of pieces about sex and sexual culture that forces the reader to think. I’ve had my head buried in erotica and sci-fi for so long, I’d nearly forgotten what informative writing “felt” like, and I’ve just been quite pleasantly reminded.
These are not dry facts and figures, news stories that you’d gloss over in search of something more engaging. These are works that sit up and demand you join them, leading the reader on a journey through cultural and intellectual territory. My usual detachment got tossed over a shoulder as I settled in for tales of congressional misconduct, a rare voice in support of circumcision, and a surprisingly touching story of a widow’s encounter with an erotic masseur that made me tear up halfway through. This year’s edition starts out with insightful words from the editrix and a foreword from another great anthology-wrangler, Susie Bright. Twenty-four gems lurk between the pages, ready to educate the reader in everything from LGBT and queer culture to media misconceptions on buzz-worthy topics like sex work and dating with STDs.
An excellent mix of familiar this-is-my-life stories interspersed with broader treatments of headline-making movements and figures, I’d be surprised if readers of any bent don’t find at least a handful of pieces here that grab their attention and refuse to let go. If you’re looking for an interesting read, do yourself a favor and snag a copy of Best Sex Writing 2012. Your hand may not end up down your pants while you’re reading, but don’t be surprised to find it in your hair. Stimulation, after all, comes in many different forms.
March 6, 2012
Knowledge is a wonderful aphrodisiac, after all, and I'm absolutely game for smarty-pants frisky business. Given the current atrocious battles some groups are waging against any sort of sexual and gender-related education, the book comes at a great time. Filled with intimate moments, political movements, and personal revelations, it is a fantastic collection — one I flew through in just one day.
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
(My full review can be found on Glorified Love Letters.)
February 25, 2012
The essays were mostly good. But many of them were such current, and maybe fleeting, news that they were better suited to a newspaper, magazine, or a web news site than to an actual book. Which is where many of them came from. Also some of the pieces were too long (repeated the same point a number of times) and some were--gasp!--boring. Then again, some of the more timeless pieces were almost-gems. I'm not sorry I read it, but I'd hoped for something better.
August 13, 2012
Still rebelling on the 1-5 star system as being way too restrictive. On a compilation such as this, the stars reflect more on the quality of the editors and their selections than the selections themselves. The obvious effort in selecting was to give a wide spectrum of viewpoints and in this the compilation succeeds.
The individual selections were hit and miss for me. I particularly enjoyed Greta Christina's Alter-net article and the editors' own contributions.
The individual selections were hit and miss for me. I particularly enjoyed Greta Christina's Alter-net article and the editors' own contributions.
October 15, 2014
An interesting and informative collection of essays on diverse sexual topics. I agree with some other reviewers that the snarky or know-it-all tone of some detracts from these important topics being addressed. Also, the last one--supposedly case studies--ends with no wrap up, no explanation of what these disparate paragraphs were supposed to illuminate. Those quibbles aside, I found it fascinating and look forward to reading the next installment.
September 2, 2016
Challenging and, in many areas, very political, this book is really best summed up by it's subtitle: The State of Today's Sexual Culture. A very interesting read, and one I'd recommend to anyone interested in how people are talking about (and in many cases, legislating) sex today.
Note: I was given a copy of this book in return for my honest thoughts on it.
Note: I was given a copy of this book in return for my honest thoughts on it.
March 17, 2012
As the editor, Rachel Kramer Bussel, says in her introduction, this is not a one-handed read. Thoughtful, articulate essays, blog posts and articles on a wide range of topics make for an informative and interesting read.
February 12, 2013
One of the best of the series, I think--a lovely mix, and every piece was worthy of a read. A few pieces really resonated with me (Hugo Schwyzer's piece on being a man and "being seen" as a sexual object was wonderful.)
December 23, 2012
These essays were fascinating and informative. The only one I didn't like was Marty Klein's pro-circumcision piece, in which he posits that routine infant circumcision is "nearly painless" and "has no impact on later physical function," both of which points are demonstrably false.
May 10, 2013
For my LJ review check out the following:
Sex in Culture, Law & History
Sex in Culture, Law & History
May 16, 2012
Standout piece? Adrian Colesberry's care & handling guide to his penis. Hilarious, honest, communicative.
August 4, 2012
tres importante.
May 27, 2013
Loved the variety of topics being discussed in this anthology. Enjoyed reading different points of view, writing styles varied with some more enjoyable than others. Definately worth picking up.
July 1, 2017
An ever interesting topic with great writing and a broad range of approach.
January 19, 2018
I was not impressed by this book. I have not read books by any of these authors in book. Each author only has 3-4 pages. I have another book like this to read maybe it will be better maybe not.
Nothing from some of my favorite erotica author Maya Bank's, Cherise Sinclair, Gena Showater, etc. .
Nothing from some of my favorite erotica author Maya Bank's, Cherise Sinclair, Gena Showater, etc. .
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