The Joy of Gay Sex: An Intimate Guide for Gay Men to the Pleasures of a Gay Lifestyle [Hardcover]

Charles Silverstein (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1977

A revised edition of the groundbreaking book on male/male relationships--illustrated and updated. A consistent bestseller since it was first published in 1977, The Joy of Gay Sex deals with not only the intimate aspects of gay relationships, but also changes in sexual behavior and attitudes, daily life, drugs, parents, AIDS, and other issues. A valuable resource book for thousands of men.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As the authors suggest in their introduction, some readers, gay and straight, will be offended by this book's nonjudgmental, even accepting attitude toward "the kinkier aspects of erotic life." These activities include sex with animals, sadomasochism and "intergenerational love affairs" such as the relationship between an 11-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man. These repugnant sections of this revised edition of a 1977 guide to male/male relationships mar an otherwise useful volume, with new and updated entries reflecting the AIDS crisis, safe-sex practices and the upsurge of gay political activism. An uninhibited, no-holds-barred sex manual illustrated with 60 explicit line drawings and eight pages of color paintings, the book is also intended as a guide to coming out for closeted gay men. The alphabetically arranged entries conversationally urge readers to delve into psychosocial aspects of gay life and to explore such topics as body image, fidelity, homophobia, jealousy, parents and racism in the gay community. Silverstein, a clinical psychologist, coauthored the original edition with Edmund White. Picano ( The Lure ) is a novelist.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Charles Silverstein is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist who practices in New York City.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 239 pages
• Publisher: Outlet; First Edition edition (October 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517531585
• ISBN-13: 978-0517531587
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,827,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ok, if the straights need a lesson, this is for them., September 20, 1998

By 

Thomas Gworek ([e-mail]) (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The joy of gay sex: An intimate guide for gay men to the pleasures of a gay lifestyle (A Fireside book) (Paperback)

What does a gay man have to benefit from this book? I have asked myself this many times as I sat and flipped through this book, laughing aloud, feeling silly (having bought it only because I wanted to shock the old woman at my book store who adored me and talked poorly about gay men).

Having bought this book years ago, when I was 22 -- I knew what I needed to know then. This seems like a crash course for those outside of the gay community, to those closeted types who need to do research, to know more about who they are, or those bisexual couples merely wishing to explore.

At this book's worst, it's there to hold up and shout "freaks". Funny, when I flipped through the Joy of Sex for heterosexuals I don't ever recall seeing a chapter on SEX WITH ANIMALS!

It seems this book is not so much a book on how to enjoy sex, but a rudamentary book of what gay life is : insurance, wills, choosing a doctor, marriage. If as gay men we were instructed about our lives and the choices we were to make later on, this is the stuff we'd learn starting with our first sex ed book in grade school on up through high school. Nothing more than a bore to shock the libraries.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not new and not about joy, December 8, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The New Joy of Gay Sex (Paperback)

Readers who hope to find in this book a how-to manual of gay sex will be very sadly disappointed. Rather it tries (unsuccessfully in my opinion) to be an "encyclopedic" reference from A to Z (with the emphasis on zzzzzz) on the "joyful" life of gay sex, and even then, the book turns out to be only alphabetized, not encyclopedic. Even on those terms it fails. E.g., how can a section about wills be part of the "joys". If anything, wills are a problem about being gay, and irrelevant to gay sex, joys or not. I would say that this book is not at all directed towards gays, who I'm sure will know much , much, much more about the subject than has been written here, but towards those who have a prurient interest, are mere gawkers, or who are timidly venturing towards it. If that is the case, none of these groups would be well-served by this book.The text is antiseptic, pedestrian, and boring, and the illustrations are grotesque, not to mention degrading.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great perspective on gay life in the 70's, April 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Joy of Gay Sex: An Intimate Guide for Gay Men to the Pleasures of a Gay Lifestyle (Hardcover)

I have to give this book a ten. It was one of the first things I read on the subject when I was going thought that PAINFUL coming out process as a teenager in 1984, and it made my life much easier. Re-reading it a few years ago, I realized that, while some aspects of it are outdated (HIV and AIDS info, in particular), it still conveys the joys of being gay. It's follow-up, "The New Joy of Gay Sex" does a lot to make up for these lacks. And, of course, if you and your partner get into a rut, you can try some of the interesting positions described (the "crab" comes to mind). Enjoy. Michaelw