Babeland's Moregasm: A Sex Book for 2010
Babeland occupies a special place in the pantheon of sex shops - their Seattle store is well-lit, brightly decorated, and feels something like the store Willy Wonka would have opened had he been into a different kind of sugar. When they release a new book, people listen, because their exuberant, appealing approach to matters between-the-sheets is always nice. It's not quite a breath of fresh air, since looking at a sex manual is always going to feel a little dirty to our Baptist-raised minds, but it's close. Their new book, Moregasm: Babeland's Guide to Mind Blowing Sex, is billed as a "real world guide to getting satisfied." We had a look at it over the weekend - our thoughts after the jump.
Visually, Moregasm is the sort of thing you'd be happy to have on your shelf: it's attractively designed, with an appealing combination of flat-color illustrations and pictures of attractive naked people of both sexes throughout the book. Moregasm is for heterosexual couples and lesbians, and it's written specifically for women. A guy-oriented companion would be a great follow-up, because this one is unabashedly for the ladies. Almost any book on sex could be a multi-volume set, but very few should be -- Moregasm falls into that latter camp.
Written by Rachel Venning and Claire Cavanah, the founders of Babeland, the book is playful, but covers a lot of ground. Their writing is lighthearted and honest. The authors have been talking sex for years, and their attitude towards sex makes for easy, comfortable reading. We think you'll finish it feeling at least a little more comfortable about sex. It's better than anything out there - The Joy of Sex is too hoary (and too hairy), and most modern sex books too preachy.
The book is broken up into sections - and if we have one gripe, it's that the table of contents is spread out over the book rather than put in one place in the beginning. That's a small point, though, since the content is strong enough to make us forgive any minor confusion over layout. Chapters on anatomy, the structure of an orgasm, fetishes, and contraception are presented breezily and appealingly. The book is downright fun - the sexual positions section lists variations on each position and the pros and cons of each listed -- enough information to take the stress out of any experimentation. A set of real-life questions and answers ends each section, which we think most people will find especially helpful.
Moregasm condenses the teachings of some of Babeland's popular workshops into one playful, open-minded guide to sex. It's focused largely on orgasm-related questions, but provides a good overview on sexual matters in general -- you couldn't quite give this book to a teenager in lieu of having "the talk," but it's great for anyone with a little curiosity about sex (and who doesn't that apply to?). The book is broad-ranging, and has the potential to make you confident about things you'd been worried about, and curious about things you'd never even considered.
