The New Joy of Sex (Joy of Sex Series) [Paperback]

Alex Comfort (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1992 | Series: Joy of Sex Series

A new edition of the best-selling classic guide to sex features completely redone illustrations, erotic duotone photographs, and a text that has been restructured to address today's health concerns. Reprint. 200,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

First published in 1972, The Joy of Sex quickly became a milestone in the literature of sex and love, selling millions of copies. Witty, wise, uninhibited, its daring combination of words and illustrations opened the floodgates to the frank and exuberant discussion of sex that was the first hallmark of the sexual revolution. Now, at a time when understanding of sexual issues ranges from confusion to fear, Alex Comfort gives us a completely revised edition of this classic, proving beyond a doubt that sex is still joyful. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An intelligent sex manual that is serious without being solemn." Desmond Morris "Witty, fanciful, and mercifully free of moralizing." Time --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books (October 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671778595
• ISBN-13: 978-0671778590
• Product Dimensions: 0.7 x 5.6 x 10.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An updated edition of a classic sex guide September 16, 2003

By Alex Diaz-Granados VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As a forty-something year old guy, I'm just as interested in sex as much as the next guy (or woman), so naturally I do sometimes wander to the Relationships section at the local book emporium and check out the guides on lovemaking. Yes, there are many such books out there (Anne Hooper seems to have made a good career for herself with her own series of "how-to" guides!), but the late Alex Comfort's The New Joy of Sex is by far the best.

Updating his 1972 bestseller for the 1990s as a result of the AIDS crisis, Comfort supplements his always helpful advice from the 1970s edition with new sections in which he discusses safe sex, the importance of sharing and respecting a partner's needs or fantasies. Even better, Comfort uses language that is both informative and pleasing to the ear. He also avoids being overly clinical; knowing how most people talk about sex, he doesn't shy away from using colloquial [phrases] when referring to genitalia. Best of all, Comfort advises his audience that sex is something very human and essential to any meaningful relationship, so it should indeed be a source of joy.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with photos by Clare Park and drawings by John Raynes, The New Joy of Sex should be read at least once by any couple seeking to enhance their relationship.

229 of 294 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Outdated and Offensive February 19, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

As a sexuality educator, I am always looking to refer clients, particularly teens, to good books about enhancing sexual relationships. Having read so many positive reviews about this book, I was distressed to see how incredibly offensive, heterosexist, misogynistic, and just generally dated it was.

For example, to refer to the rear entry position as "La Negresse," is beyond disgraceful. In addition, to make such statements as "To need some degree of violence in sex... is statistically pretty normal," to say that "Medicine is concerned about [bisexuals] because... they spread the HIV virus into the general sexual community," and to refer to lesbians as "simply women who have given up on men after a lifetime spent kissing frogs who failed to turn into princes," gives a very limited, inaccurate, and disrespectful view of sexuality as a whole.

The book also makes sweeping generalizations about people from various cultures, as well as sex workers ("prostitutes"), "transsexualists," who he incorrectly says are "mostly male," and as mentioned above, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. He warns, "Don't take on a person with a major sex problem, such as... homosexuality." Heaven forbid a teen - or a person of any age who may be questioning her or his sexual orientation -- gets her or his hands on this book.

With so many negative messages bombarding our society about sexuality, can we not try to be less flippant and more positive and accepting -- or at the very least, tolerant?

When updating a book, one must focus not only on amending factual information -- which is not even done correctly in all cases here (i.e...., AIDS is not a virus, it is the last stage of HIV disease; nothing is mentioned about transmission through breast milk, etc.) -- but also on our ever-changing, hopefully progressing, societies. This book is far from progress; it belongs in the middle ages. Read more ›

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Nothing New Here August 1, 2002

By Melanie Schurr

Format:Paperback

On the plus side, this book has nicely artistic erotic sketches and a few tasteful photos, but on the whole, unless you know nothing about sex and are starting off from scratch, you won't find much new in this book. The book was considered hot stuff when it first came out, but let's not forget it was also still taboo to have a good heart to heart about S-E-X. This is a nice book to page through in a book store, but don't waste your money buying it.

61 of 82 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Why is this book so highly praised? July 23, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I remember when this book was re-issued, it got lots of press. A couple years later, my buddy suggested it to me, saying that he heard it was great and so on and so forth so I picked it up. There was nothing earth-shattering in there. The author gives some suggestions about things to try in bed, but there was very little that I couldn't figure out on my own.

I also strongly disliked the preachiness of the book. He takes the attitude that what is right for him, is right for everyone, which came across as being very closed-minded. For example, we hear about why the woman shouldn't shave her legs or armpits, why deoderant is bad, and in the section on anal sex, rather than explain how to do it more painlessly for the woman, I got to read 2 pages on how dangerous it is with AIDS so "prevelant" among heterosexuals.

Well, I don't like women who don't shave; I don't like body odor, and I enjoy a little backdoor action once in a while from a monogomous partne! r. If you can get past the preachiness of the book, you may find one or two useful tips in the 200-odd pages it contains. Not recommended.

26 of 34 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The First And The Finest January 23, 2002

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

If you object to the politicization of sex, to the sentimentalization of sex, or if you suspect that the cultivation of primal, glorious human sensuality has been kidnaped by ideologues masquerading as sex educators who seek to advance their own agenda, then you will find Alex Comfort's "Joy of Sex" a refreshing, unvarnished, and unapologetically candid treatise on human sexual experience and potential. This book was a masterpiece when published in 1972, and it remains so now. Those who think it merely a "sex manual" have missed the point, and those who think that opinions in matters sexual must always be deferential and sensitive will doubtless be happier with other, less thoughtful books on their shelves.

Comfort is a scholar and a philosopher, a classicist and a biologist and a physicist and a doctor, and he brought the breadth of his erudition to bear on this seminal--forgive the pun--book. Comfort clearly believes that the cultivation of the senses frees us from slavishness in the face of coercive moralizing, and those who have their own moralizing to do--be it from the left or the right--will naturally find this book their greatest foe. I expect Comfort would have smiled at that. Comfort does not accept all sexual habits as healthy-in-their-own-right, as some modern sex-educators do, but instead puts forth a common-sense philosophy of rational sexuality that he believes will help to make us better people, and certainly help us to increase our capacity to love.

Comfort wrote this book (and a few others) in an attempt to free people from the horrors of having their most basic needs--emotional, intellectual, physical and of course sexual--be determined by the injunctions of a culture, any culture.... Comfort believed that the individual cultivation of the senses provided the best and most honest way to democratize our minds and our bodies, and he sought to help people realize this potential by teaching them how to express themselves sexually with those they love in a technically competent, mutually trusting, playful and uncomplicated manner. All of this bothers some people, and it is a measure of Comfort's success that it now bothers those who want to tell others how to make love, rather than those who think that we should not make love at all.

Anyone who accuses Comfort of "heterosexism" (as he sometimes is) has not responsibly represented this book. On page 241 of the 1991 edition Comfort writes "All people are bisexual--that is to say, they are able to respond sexually to some extent towards people of either sex...." and "...homosexuality is closely analogous to left-handedness, and may have similar causes in brain function (which makes nonsense of talk about it being `unnatural' or sinful)." Unquote. Comfort is too informed a biologist and psychologist to ever suggest that homosexuality is somehow `wrong,' and insightful specialists will appreciate Comfort's recognition that a minority of homosexuals are profoundly unhappy with their orientation. ("...and the measure, we repeat, of whether it is a problem is whether it causes anxiety and interferes with sexual joy...." p.246/1991). If readers object to Comfort's references to various historical and historically French terms ("a la negresse," "a la florentine," "la petite mort"), they should remember that Comfort has made clear that race is biologically irrelevant (p.136/1991), and that only a fool would attempt to ignore (or worse, reject), the past. Comfort assumes that his readers are responsible and bright, and given the book's sales over the last thirty years, that's a form of respect that most people cherish. And which, alas, some readers do not deserve.

To approach lovemaking as an art and a sacrament is far too much to ask of the average man or woman, (and clearly far too much to ask of the average sex educator), but that didn't stop Comfort from trying. And critically, it didn't stop him from placing that ideal before us. That was part of his genius, and it's one reason this book remains a classic. The cultivation of the senses (to change Peter Gay's phrase) is among the most important developments of the modern era, and more than any other popular writer Comfort has helped to make that development possible. Comfort is a perfectionist and a master, and if you want a glimpse of the sexual potential of which two committed, loving, intelligent and emotionally honest people are capable, then you can do no better than to read this book cover to cover, twice. It was the best in its time, and it's the best now. It will remain a classic long after the latest sexual fad is gone. Read more ›