The A-Z (not to mention the G and U!) of the new Joy of Sex
Deirdre Reynolds on how the iconic manual has moved on from its Comfort zone
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It's bad news for boyfriends as Quilliam instructs men to enter the more challenging A and U spots into their sexual sat-nav
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By Deirdre Reynolds
Tuesday Sep 16 2008
Leather pants may be back in fashion, but it seems slithering out of them in order to do it on the back of a moving motorcycle is definitely not.
The engine-revving sex move is just one of the tried-and-tested suggestions you won't find any more in the brand new edition of iconic bonking book The Joy of Sex.
The '70s sex manual hits bookshop shelves this month after being given a 21st-century makeover.
The original proffered the (not so) 'Easy Rider' thrill with the warning -- "If you have access to a private road, the hazards are yours".
But that sentiment, among others, is notably absent from The New Joy of Sex.
That horny hint has been replaced with even more sizzling (although safer) tips to jumpstart your love life.
The timid love-making manual by Dr Alex Comfort first introduced The Hairy Man and his equally hairy Mrs to the world in 1972. Now 36 years, eight million copies, 22 languages and a quick shave later, Hairy Man is back in an updated version by psychologist Susan Quilliam.
And this time round, the good news is you can actually get your hands on a copy -- unlike its predecessor, The New Joy of Sex can be found on coffee tables across the country rather than locked up in the censor's office.
But can an outdated educational tome aimed at monogamous couples teach us anything that Ibiza Uncovered hasn't already?
"It has been completely updated," said Jane Smith, head of marketing and publicity at publisher Mitchell Beazley. "It is taking in new material to reflect how sex and sexual relationships have evolved in the last 35 years."
Striptease, phone sex, fantasy and sex toys are some of the new-fangled forms of fornication found in the modernised manual that's sure to captivate a whole new generation of snooping pre-teens -- not to mention an eye-watering section on penis injury by vacuum cleaner.
Co-author Quilliam has bumped up the bestseller with 43 new topics relevant to today's readers, including Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), Viagra and therapy for sexual problems. Modern lovers will also be introduced to the 'Venus butterfly', the kinky delights of body paint and 'love maps'.
And Hairy Man isn't the only one enjoying the Big O, thanks to the latest edition of the book.
While acknowledging that Comfort was "fully committed to women's pleasure", girls are on top in Quilliam's version of things.
For the first time in its history -- incorporating two revised editions and a 30th-anniversary print -- The Joy of Sex focuses on encouraging the fairer sex to get down and dirty.
The book has come a long way since the swinging 70s, when the clitoris was summed up in four sentences.
But while all this means more joy for the girls, it's bad news for their boyfriends -- as well as the traditional Holy Grail of female orgasm, the G spot -- as Quilliam instructs men to enter the more challenging A and U spots into their sexual Sat-Nav, too. The new book is also bulging with 120 new photographs and drawings, although these have been tastefully blurred and, in the age of the Brazilian, feature considerably less pubic hair.
And it retracts some of the hippy doctor's musings on free love and has made a U-turn on the wisdom of condoms, which struck Comfort as a nuisance.
Despite moving with the times, though, the spiced-up sex book can still be found in the self-help section of bookshops rather than sex shops.
"We wanted to ensure that the book does not lose its roots," publisher Smith said.
"It is, at core, a family reference book. This new version still includes all that factual information, but many new subjects have been added.
"The reasons for unfulfilling sexual relations today are different to those that Dr Comfort's first audience experienced."
Quilliam reckons to have cut just 9pc of the original book, so there's still plenty of moves that -- shudder -- your parents will recognise.
Old favourites the 'Viennese oyster', 'pattes d'araignee' and the 'flanquette' are still set to get couples in touch with their inner-contortionist. And Comfort's toe-curling hint that "the pad of the male toe applied to the clitoris or the vulva generally is a magnificent erotic instrument" apparently still rings true.
Something else to stay the same is the guidebook's infamously straight-laced attitude -- even in an era of lipstick lesbianism a la Lindsay Lohan, the book is still exclusively for heterosexuals.
But while it's unlikely to teach adventurous 20-somethings anything new between the sheets, Quilliam insists the once revolutionary book by Comfort, who died in 2000, hasn't passed its shag-by date just yet.
And in an age when our most memorable images of sex include Paris Hilton's infamous internet sex tape and Colin Farrell's most impressive turn on camera to date, perhaps we do need some dreamy hippies to bring us back to basics about love, sex and fidelity after all.
"One of my sadnesses in updating the book is that whatever I did, I could never be as revolutionary," said agony aunt Quilliam, who has 18 books on love and lust under her belt.
"But I don't think there has ever been more need for education because we're living in a society which is far more sexualised than when Alex Comfort was writing.
'I'm glad I'm not 10 years younger because there are an awful lot of pressures on young people: to look fabulous; to have a fabulous sex life," added Quilliam (58).
"We're living in a world where it's important to achieve and whether we have a good sex life has become one of our measures of personal validity.
"Alex Comfort took the emphasis off achievement -- that is one of the many things he got right."
And forget the sex shop; if you're serious about sex, head straight to the bookshop for a copy of The New Joy of Sex, she urged.
"I think what a lot of the other material out there misses is how powerful sex is. People die for it, literally.
"One of the ways we've gone wrong in the past is that we haven't recognised this emotional power.
"Sex isn't a game. So I think there still is a need for a book that takes sex seriously."
The New Joy of Sex by Alex Comfort and Susan Quilliam is published by Mitchell Beazley, £18.99 (€24)
- Deirdre Reynolds
