The Lesbian Sex Book: A Guide for Women Who Love Women

by Wendy Caster, Rachel Kramer Bussel, Julie May (Illustrator)

A best-seller for years, The Lesbian Sex Book is ready for a revamp to reflect the changing times. Still as thorough and comprehensive as ever-and just as entertaining. Whether the topic is sex practices, gender politics, relationship building, polyamory, edible body oils, or strap-on toys, The Lesbian Sex Book 2nd Edition is the one source for both the sexually adventurous and the erotic novice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Lesbian, Sexuality, LGBT

200 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Pamela Langhorne]

Some people may think, like, or do one thing, other people may think, like, or do another thing. This doesn't mean that somebody is bad or wrong, just different. That's the basic point of this entire book. That's the really fucking boring point of this book. Even Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century, is sexier, and more informative. Sure, the cover photography by Judy Francesconi might make you all tingly down below, and the words, "lesbian sex," are in the title, but that's about as hot as it gets.

If you're a curious elderly housewife, or a virginal young woman who's starting to figure out why you keep getting crushes on other women, then by all means pick this up. It'll do you some good while making with plenty of politically correct niceties. You will appreciate how it is set up like an encyclopedia, and how the back section contains useful references to written material that's actually good. You can even pass it along to your homophobic friends who are convinced you're going to burn in hell, to show them how nice and non-offensive queer people are.

There is very little to do with actual sex in this book. It's supposed to be some sort of supportive hug while discussing feelings and how everybody is okay. It talks about how lesbians may talk, act, look, and dress in many different ways, but it doesn't mean that something is wrong with them or that they're not lesbians. It includes quotes from several women who are theoretically a variety of ages and from different backgrounds. Reading the quotes, I couldn't help but picture them all being around 80, holding hands while watching Oprah, drinking herbal tea, discussing the art of Mary Engelbreit and Anne Geddes during commercial breaks, and finding damn near everything distasteful. Well, I never! I am shocked and offended that I spent valuable time reading instead of masturbating to the cover art.

[Freyja Vanadis]

Some parts of this book are really good; for instance, Ms. Caster is spot on when she talks about the actual mechanics of certain sex acts. But when she wanders into territory that she knows nothing about, like s/m, she falls flat. For instance, she says S/M may involve a scenario or "scene". No one but NO ONE in the s/m world would ever call it a scenario. It's just a scene, always. She goes on to further describe such scenes as being anything the reader wants it to be, like a teacher and pupil, cop and driver pulled over for speeding, or a sergeant and brand-new enlistee. I got a good laugh out of that. That's not what s/m is. Does Caster not realize what s/m stands for? I have to shake my head sadly at the thought of two women taking Caster's advice and using any of those situations and thinking they're all naughty and bad ass because they just did s/m, not realizing that all they did was roleplaying without any actual s/m components.
Also, this book was published in 1993; a lot of it is very dated, as well as outdated. In the section where she talks about therapy, one of her interviewees described her experiences with her therapist and how she was doing some inner child work. My eyes immediately glazed over. That is SO 1990s. It used to be that back in the '90s, it was impossible to read any type of publication with a therapy theme without reading about that inner child crap. Thankfully, that seems to have died off because I haven't heard that term for a long long time.
Anyway, take this book with a grain of salt. Some of it is good information, but some of it is just silly and/or misinformed, not to be used.

[Ietrio]

A bit rigid, and as with heterosexual sex books, based on information from a very small base. Actually, some parts might hurt some prudes, but I can't see how this is a Lesbian Sex Book and not simply a sex book for women. Still, amusingly misinformed till you get that some might buy the book for the information and not to make fun of somebody's impression of everybody else. And no, butt plugs are not dildos.

[Sara]

Another gem from the estate lot. The version I read is the 1993 one with the cover illustration by Julie May.

[Shilo]

... also, I'm the photographer for this book.