The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex (67 page)

I like hardcore sex and gay porn dishes it out reliably.

I like the abundance of sex in gay porn—lesbian sex stories are too focused on emotional conflict for me.

SMUT: At Good Vibrations we’ve affectionately named this genre “dimestore smut”—inexpensive, devourable, mass-market collections of explicit writing often by anonymous or pseudonymous authors, with roots in classics like
Autobiography of a Flea
and
Fanny Hill.

Smut doesn’t pretend to be anything other than writing about sex—its goal is to get you off. These books specialize in colorful language, meticulously detailed sex scenes, and taboo activities. Smut books tend to favor content over form (that is, no Pulitzer-Prize aspirations), or as one of our coworkers so aptly described them, “They offer little of lasting literary merit but plenty of enjoyable, rambunctious lechery.”

Smut books are my choice for a sure-fire turn-on. They skip the flowery euphemistic language that bogs down some women’s erotica and describe nasty, naughty sex on page after page.

No, it’s not great literature—but I don’t care. The erotic exploits of the naughty Victorian lads and ladies are jolly good, spicy fun.

Smut can also be full of stereotypes, so if you’re looking for politically correct sex, skip these books. The genre includes an abundance of “Victorian pornography,” though many of these supposed period pieces are in fact “unearthed” (that is to say, written) annually. These books are printed by the truckload; they can be as formulaic in style as their tamer sister, the Harlequin romance, but more diverse in theme—you won’t find gay priests, sadistic heterosexual twins, or lesbian jet-setters in a Harlequin!

The diversity apparent in more mainstream erotica is increasingly reflected in smut. There are spin-off imprints devoted to specific themes, as well as a growing number of talented writers who’ve elevated the quality of the writing.

Black Lace’s erotic novels invariably get me hot and bothered, and I often read them when I am looking for new material. However, the best books for my masturbation purposes are the
Marketplace
series by Laura Antoniou. The plot is so good sometimes I forget to masturbate!

And while there are a large number of anthologies and short-story collections, smut is where you’ll find the highest concentration of novel-length works. These books have also found their way onto the shelves of a few airport bookstores, which often give them equal display space alongside the current best-sellers. No wonder so many people fantasize about sex on planes!

AMERICAN MASTERS: A handful of authors have produced such a unique body of erotic work that we’ve dubbed them “American Masters.” Authors like Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin, Marco Vassi, Pat Califia, Nicholson Baker, Aaron Travis, and Danielle Willis have penned sexually explicit literature so forceful and original that they have achieved cult status among many erotica lovers. All are masters of their craft, using their polished, explicit prose to explore the limits of human sexual behavior.

I recently picked up an Anaïs Nin erotica book and started to read some while I was alone. It got me rather hot and bothered and I knew that I must read this with my husband in bed. It proved to be very scintillating fodder.

MULTICULTURAL EROTICA: The explosion in the erotica market has brought a welcome infusion of titles that represent a variety of cultural perspectives. Although erotica is still primarily Eurocentric, you can now find separate erotic anthologies from Asian, Latino, African American, and Jewish communities. Men and women of all sexual orientations are represented.

I like books that reflect who I am whether that is as a large-size woman, black woman, or part of an interracial coupling.

EROTICA SERIES: In an erotica series you can sample high-caliber writing from a variety of authors in a single anthology. Most series publishers release annual editions, which focus on a specific theme, be it as general as “women’s erotica” or as specific as “bondage erotica.” When you find a series editor whose erotic sensibility matches your own, you’re guaranteed a reliable source of pleasurable reading.

SCIENCE FICTION, SUPERNATURAL, GOTHIC, HORROR: Tales of aliens or the supernatural have always tickled our imaginations, so it’s no surprise they make good grist for sexual fantasy. Anthologies featuring well-known authors together with little-known writers abound on a variety of subjects—alien sex, lesbian vampires, gay intergalactic hunks, and futuristic stories about prostitution, to name a few.

S/M: The sheer number of titles in print with S/M themes reveals what a powerful hold S/M has on our fantasy life. Nearly all of the genres we’ve discussed so far include books that deal with various forms of power play. So whether you’re looking for women-authored stories of bondage and discipline, gay leathersex encounters, tales of schoolmistresses disciplining impertinent lads and lasses, or otherworldly crimes against nature, you shouldn’t have to search very hard to find them.

LITERARY ANTHOLOGIES: There’s always an anthology in print of steamy passages culled from the classic and contemporary works of literature. Since you might not otherwise have known your favorite author had a few erotic stories stashed away in the closet, these comprehensive anthologies can be very enlightening and exciting. They should delight any student of literature frustrated that the nasty stuff never made it onto the required reading list. Unfortunately, sometimes the editors stretch the limits of what they consider erotic, but if you cast yourself back to the time, place, and conditions under which the pieces were written, you may just get yourself in the mood!

AUDIO EROTICA: Those of you who want to spice up your morning commute or your next road trip can now enjoy audio versions of erotic fiction from classics of the Victorian age, such as
The Pearl,
to the more contemporary
Herotica
series. Passion Press, now a division of Good Vibrations, specializes in this genre. Audio erotica can appeal to folks who are visually impaired, as well as to those who aren’t interested in reading books or watching videos. Many folks claim they’d rather leave the casting up to their imaginations, but discover that a sexy voice will put them over the edge.

In my sixty-seven years, I have never purchased anything that was so exciting, or which had such a therapeutic effect, as an erotic audio. I can’t imagine watching a video again after hearing how attractive and graceful the performers sound.

I think I would like listening to well-made, genuine sex noises while masturbating. Or listening to a really hot, genuine BDSM scene on CD.

Erotic Nonfiction

FANTASIES: Nancy Friday broke ground in the seventies when she published a collection of hundreds of women’s sexual fantasies. This important work acknowledged the fantasy lives of women but, more to the point, these fantasies were impossible to read without getting turned on.

The threesome I had with two other women was initiated by reading a Nancy Friday fantasy that got us all so hot we could not contain ourselves any longer!

Friday published subsequent collections of both women’s and men’s fantasies, and these volumes remain some of the best fantasy fuel around. Although other collections of fantasies continue to materialize, Friday’s volumes were the most commercially successful and are still in print.

SEX INFORMATION AND HOW-TO GUIDES: If you’ve gotten the least little bit turned on while reading this book, then you know first-hand what this category is all about. Reading about the sexual practices of others can often be as arousing as any fiction! Many of our survey respondents claimed that sex manuals have inspired their fantasy lives. Recent years have seen a boom in how-to guides on everything from Tantra to oral sex to S/M to anal sex. See our bibliography for specific recommendations of books that are both edifying and exciting to read.

PERSONAL ADS: One cheap way to get off, whether you like your porn short and sweet or short and hardcore, is to place or answer a personal ad. You don’t have to look farther than your nearest alternative newspaper or online matchmaking site. Look for an explicitly sexual matchmaking site if you want to cut right to the chase.

Midnight ritualistic phallic worship. Masculine, aggressive masseur seeking similar for heavy mutual dirty talk, jerkoff, showing off, chanting, phallic appreciation, late night my place. Visual/verbal buddy-to-buddy fantasy, not physical.

The schoolmaster provides home tutoring, training, and discipline for the behavior problems of wayward, gum-chewing girls (18) who cannot seem to complete their assignments.

Erotic Art Books

Although erotic art books run the gamut of sexual expression—from collections of fine-art nudes to
Playboy
centerfolds—only you can say what you do or don’t find erotic (or what you consider “art,” for that matter). But there’s no denying the power of a visual image to elicit a strong erotic response, so we encourage you to view a variety of images and learn what pleases you most. Erotic art books tend to fall into the following basic categories, though some combine elements from each. Many are also accompanied by erotic or instructional text. With the exception of truly famous artists, there’s a limit to the number of erotic art books you’ll find in chain bookstores. You probably have a better chance of locating erotic art books online, in alternative or lesbian and gay bookstores, in sex boutiques, in some mail-order catalogs, and in art collectors’ catalogs or shops.

PILLOW BOOKS: The origins of the pillow book date back to second-century B.C. China. These were manuals for married couples, complete with instructions on foreplay, intercourse, techniques, positions, and advice, lavishly illustrated so that one could learn and practice at the same time. The originals no longer exist, but the form has reinvented itself over time and across cultures—the most famous pillow book being the Indian
Kama Sutra of Vatsayana.
This book is almost always in print, but don’t confuse the classic edition with more sanitized modern versions. Publishers like to rewrite the text and add lots of soft-core photos of happy heterosexual white couples demonstrating the positions. A contemporary pillow book usually features graphic depictions of sex illustrated with drawings or photographs.

EROTIC PHOTOGRAPHY: Perhaps you prefer the work of certain famous contemporary photographers like Robert Mapplethorpe, Herb Ritts, or Jan Saudek, or you’re attracted to the star quality of a collection of Betty Page photographs. You might be a fan of collections that focus on a specific activity or lifestyle like S/M, cross-dressing, fetish wear, or sex work:

The S/M photographs in
Sexual Magic
by Michael Rosen validated and inspired me. He captures the eroticism, the creativity, and the passion of his subjects.

The female nude can be found in everything from collections of lesbian sex photographs to art-history tomes and airbrushed
Penthouse
publications. Male nudes are the subject of many gay photography collections. The pictures in some of the historical collections of erotic photography are worth a thousand words—grainy images of spankings, nymphettes, and illicit encounters offer a welcome peek into our prudish past. Fetish photography is also very popular. Taschen publishes a number of beautiful historical and fetish photography books.

FINE ART: Collections of erotic fine art are popping up all over the place these days—there’s even a fantastic playing-card deck adorned with fifty-two different fine-art nudes (which we would dearly love to send to the gentleman whose quote opens this chapter). Some books focus on a specific time period, others on the works of different artists, still others on a specific theme such as the nude or previously banned work.

Once in a while we run across a crafty collection of erotic folk art that usually features work spanning several centuries and cultures, such as Victorian canes or Navaho kachina dolls.

Magazines

Erotic magazines are appealing for several reasons: You’ve got visual erotica at an affordable price, sex information, fiction, the infamous “Letters to the Editor” section, and a new issue to devour every month or two. There are a multitude of sex magazines serving almost every imaginable sexual interest. Whether your tastes run toward bondage and fetish gear, lesbian culture, erotica for eggheads, or more traditional skin magazines, you usually don’t have to look beyond large newsstands or adult, gay, and lesbian bookstores.

When
On Our Backs
has a butch or FTM on a femme, or on another butch or FTM, I can’t get enough of it.

Gay men’s magazines are hot. Those boys are easy on the eye and supply the leading men in my erotic daydreams.

I use magazines of a not terribly hardcore sort to arouse myself,
Playboy
and
Penthouse
. I am mostly interested in pictures of women (
Vogue
is often a good choice) who are sophisticated-looking and partially dressed.

If you want alternatives to the slick, glossy mainstream magazines like
Playboy
or
Playgirl,
try a ’zine. ’Zines are usually low-budget publications (black-and-white, printed on newsprint, or photocopied on inexpensive bond) with a specific theme, often sexual in nature. If you can get your hands on them, you’ll find cutting-edge sex writing. Look for these in alternative bookstores.