Pursed Lips

coherently when a summer head cold keeps you hacking and wheezing and in a general state of craptastic. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t point you to a couple of this year’s treatise and tomes on various sexuality topics.

First, when Niklaus Largier’s In Praise of the Whip: a Cultural History of Arousal firt surface on my radar, I got myself a copy ASAP. After all, it’s been awhile since an all-encompassing look at flagellation has seen the light of day. And I must admit that while this New Statemans review is a sound recap of the book, I
found the book a dry read, one best taken in small doses in episodic spurts of indulgent reading.

Mind you, I admire Largier’s work. It’s thoroughly researched and written, competently translated, and its bulk is enough to attract a bibliophile like a bee to newly blossoming flower. Really, I wanted to delve into it and savor it. But I quickly became disenchanted with the book — and I don’t think it’s the book’s fault at all. I’m chalking up my lack of enduring enthusiasm to not being Catholic enough or British enough to appreciate it. I’ve just had too leisurely a Protestant, American upbringing. Hell, as a child, I never marveled over the suffering the saints nor, as a teen, did I masturbate over the confessions of the likes of O.

Blame me, not the book, please.

On the other hand, I am looking forward to sitting down with Hanne Blank’s Virgin: The Untouched History. I’ve been remiss in pointing you to the book and for that I apologize. I’ve read Hanne’s introductory chapter to the book and found it so lively that I’m hopeful that the rest of the book, however exhaustive its research and meaningful its depth, will lack the dry voice of Largier’s book. Hanne’s book has garnered all kind of attention, starting with The New York Time Book Review section (as good as it gets in receiving notice) and then sone: The New York Observer, The Chicago Sun Times, San Francisco Chronicle, the San Diego Union Tribune, even Entertainment Weekly and My Messy Bedroom.

However belatedly, kudos, Hanne!

I’m also looking forward to delving into my ARC of Aine Collier’s The Humble Little Condom: A History. First glance shows a global history of the contraceptive with a fair emphasis on American Comstockery and our cultural pushme-pullyou relationship with this modest little sheath. But why the book is included in a list of upcoming GLBT titles, I don’t know. (I’m guessing Collier is queer?)

Ah well, my cough returns. Time to return to resting.