Sexuality Happens

One of my favorite sex educators, the lovely Tristan Taormino, has just published another fabulous book.  Now, I hold her book Opening Up on various types of relationships (both non-monogamous and monogamous) to be the best in the field, and her book Down and Dirty Sex secrets is one of my favs.  I’m happy to say that her newest book, the Big Book of Sex Toys, does NOT disappoint, and I think is absolutely stunning.

In the past, there have been one or two other books on sex toys. However, the sex toy field has definitely evolved and changed drastically in the last decade, and we needed new material.  Moreover, we needed from someone who knows toys, loves toys, works with and is around toys on a regular basis. Thanks Tristan for stepping up to the plate.

This book talks about toys as a whole, breaking down categories, talking about materials, going from the broad to the specific, covering everything. I didn’t see as much as I would have liked on either kegels/sex toys for kegels, or on sex toys that are great for disabilities, but other than that, I was incredibly impressed by the amount of both breadth and depth of this book.  Tristan really knows her stuff (and knows how to research) and it shows.

My one issue with the book is that while there are absoultely stunning color pictures throughout, with close ups of the toys (although some pictures are used multiple times), and while these pictures contain some racial diveristy, there is certainly no gender or orientation diversity, none the less size and ability diversity.  However, I don’t fault Tristan for this; I know that certain publishers like certain looks for their books, and sometimes go over the author’s head regarding the photography.  Sad, yes, but it happens.

That said, this is an amazing reference book, and while I think anyone would do well to have it, I would specifically and emphatically recommend it to  sex bloggers/sex toy reviews, sex therapist/counselors, sex educators, and anyone who works with people in the field of sexuality. It’s important to know about toys, about materials, and the back of the book has an excellent reference guide pointing out great sex toy stores, sex toy companies, and much.

I give this book 4.5 stars (out of 5). It loses half a star for a combo of the lack of diversity/little bits of missing info I’d like, but I HIGHLY recommend this book, and will definitely be giving it as a present to many of my friends in the future.  Hats of to Tristan for yet another great book!

Click here to get your own copy of the Big Book of Sex Toys!

-Essin’ Em