By Shelby Lueders
It’s safe to say that Emily Nagoski’s book, Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform your Sex Life, is a game-changer for the sexuality literary lay-people. Every page is filled with groundbreaking science and research proving that how your feel about your parts is the key to a confident and joyful sex life. Nagoski takes your hand and guides you through this research, breaking down the scientific terms for us laypeople, and ultimately brings the reader into a new, sexually freeing understanding. Since there’s a chance you already have this book proudly displayed on your shelf, here is a list of books that would also look well on your shelf.
Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy by Hallie Lieberman
Buzz is a microhistory of the sex toy that ultimately tells the story of our ever-evolving sexual and cultural values. Lieberman journeys from ancient phalluses to our beloved 21st century vibrating rabbits, but she primarily focuses on the 1950s into the present day. This is where she catches her stride, tracing the sex toy evolution from “symbols of female emancipation to tools to fight against HIV/AIDS to consumerist material aids and finally to mainstays of today’s pop culture.” In this detailed book, you will meet the big makers and players behind the sex toy industry and get a deep dive into our culture’s relationship to the sex toy.
Wild Side Sex: The Book of Kink by Midori
There is so much to be learned from Midori! Not only is she an icon of kink, but she is also a revolutionary for radical self-acceptance. Her Book of Kink is a beginner’s guide to stepping into the world of kink with erotic storytelling interwoven throughout. It’s positioned as a tell-all, but it’s also more than that. Midori’s work is a call to arms to downright own the things that make you, you. “It’s in the woman’s confidence,” she heralds, “to know that she is a sexual being,” further placing the emphasis on self-acceptance and self-reflection in order to be a satisfied sexual being. Through Midori’s anecdotes and conversations with others, the reader is taken on a kink-filled journey and they might possibly uncover something new about themselves.
Sex with Shakespeare: Here’s Much to Do with Pain, but More with Love by Jillian Keenan
Probably not one you’d expect, but this book echoes Midori’s importance of self-realization. Sex with Shakespeare takes us through Keenan’s kink journey—from self-denial and confusion to prevalent shame and unnecessary pain, and finally to acceptance and growth. It’s a marvel of a sexual revolution inspired by and discovered through Shakespeare’s works. Keenan leans on the Bard’s main players—Helena, Juliet, Katherine—as sympathizers to her situation, as each features their own versions of kink and sexual identity crises. They supply the words and emotions she had yet to know and understand. Like myself, she believes we’re all reading Shakespeare’s work incorrectly and that there is much to be gained by the interweaving of art and sex in his plays.
The Pleasure Gap: American Women and the Unfinished Sexual Revolution by Katherine Rowland
The Pleasure Gap is a terrific follow up to either Nagoski’s Come As You Are or Lieberman’s Buzz. Having been published just last year, Rowland explores how we’re still missing the mark on women’s pleasure and orgasms. She urges us to take this pleasure deficit seriously and arm ourselves with knowledge in order to end the inequality. By including interviews with over 100 women and healthcare professionals, Rowland comes to the conclusion that the gap in women’s pleasure isn’t a health issue, physical or psychological, but instead a reverberation from our culture’s troubled relationship with women’s sexual expression.
Carnal Knowledge: Sex Education You Didn’t Get in School by Zoë Ligon and Elizabeth Renstrom
This is your next coffee table book. It may be small, but it is packed with important knowledge. It’s split into seven chapters, all covering a different branch of sexuality from the basics to sex accouterments and ending with tips for a better, sex-positive world. Each page is a direct and concise note with a single sentence summary in the top corner for easy flip-through. Opposite each teachable moment is a bright, colorful, editorial photo that glimmers like an art piece—perfectly staged for the playfulness the book evokes. This book is a great conversation starter and will give you correct, factual information in quick bites!
Still craving more? Here’s another three to satisfy your needs:
The Ethical Slut by Janet W. Hardy and Dossie Easton
A Curious History of Sex by Kate Lister
Pussy: A Reclamation by Regena Thomashauer