The Joy of Sex
The Joy of Sex is a 1972 illustrated sex manual by British author Alex Comfort. An updated edition was released in September 2008.
This article is about the book. For the film, see Joy of Sex (film).Author
Film[edit]
In 1984, Joy of Sex based on this book was released, directed by Martha Coolidge and written by Kathleen Rowell & J.J. Salter.
Video game[edit]
In 1993, a video game adaptation of the book was released for the Philips CD-i.[4] It is one (possibly the first) of only 27 video games to have received the Adults Only rating from the ESRB due to its strong sexual content.[5]
Availability in public libraries[edit]
There has been controversy over The Joy of Sex in the United States. Religious groups have fought to keep it out of public libraries. In March 2008, the Nampa, Idaho, public library board ruled in favour of removing The Joy of Sex and The Joy of Gay Sex from the libraries' shelves, making them only available upon request in the library director's office. The books were restored to shelves in September 2008 in response to ACLU threats of litigation.[6]
Updated 2008 edition[edit]
Publisher Mitchell Beazley released an updated edition of the book in September 2008. The new edition was rewritten and reinvented by relationship psychologist Susan Quilliam and approved by Nicholas Comfort, the original author's son.[7]
More material has been added to the book, and the remaining text has been rewritten from both a factual and psychological viewpoint to take into account social shifts since 1972. The new edition presents a more balanced female/male perspective and also contains 120 completely re-shot photographs and re-drawn illustrations.
The quirky style—and the message of the book, that sex is fun—remain the same. Mitchell Beazley has marketed the New Joy with the subtitle "a thinking person's guide to sex".