Pervert’s Library

By F. Valentine Hooven III
Published in 1993 by St. Martin’s Press

I was recently at an event where I found myself talking to a leatherman. Not only was he dressed in leather, atop his head was an amazing leather hat which perfectly framed his ountenance and vice versa. He was the personification of an idealized leatherman. As I complimented his hat, I mentioned that it made him look like he had stopped off the page of one of Tom of Finland’s drawings. He responded thoughtfully, “we all look like that on the inside.” It was a comment immense in both its beauty and insight.

If you only recently came out from under a rock and are completely unfamiliar with Tom of Finland’s work, he was, and still is, the best and most famous artist of gay erotica. His work is known for his highly stylized depictions of flawless hyper-masculine figures such as laborers and, obviously enough, leathermen.

Hooven’s biography traces Tom of Finland’s life beginning with his childhood in rural Finland to his death. I don’t know much about the background of this book’s author other than that his name shows up as the author of a book devoted to Beefcake magazines of the 50s through 70s. Were I more motivated, I might seek him out and find out more about him. Regardless, Hooven’s prose is reminiscent of the Weekly Reader. In some ways that easy writing style makes the book light and easy to read. In others, it makes the makes the book, and by extension, its subject seem a bit lightweight.

One of the book’s surprising highlights was the Tom of Finland’s service during World War II. I never really considered Finland’s participation in the war and the war’s affect on Finland before reading the book. While I don’t know enough about gay sexual expression during the war to accept or reject the veracity of Hooven’s descriptions of clandestine gay sexual encounters during the war, they were both plausible and compelling. The rest of the book traces Tom of Finland’s career as an artist from his work as a graphic illustrators to his transformation as a fulltime erotic artist, finally culminating in Tom of Finland’s recognition as an outstanding painter.

Though Hooven discusses Tom of Finland’s career as an advertising illustrator, a more detailed description of his advertising work would give the reader a broader picture of Tom of Finland’s artistic influences and background. Another detail of Tom of Finland’s life that seemed to merit more discussion was his relationship with his long term partner Veli. Despite being portrayed as a protective confidante when Tom gets cheated at business, Hooven depicts Veli as little more than a minor character in Tom of Finland’s life. Providing a more complete picture of who Tom’s life partner is and how he interacted with Tom would provide a greater insight into both Tom and his works.

Hooven also declines (fails?) to discuss Tom of Finland’s family. One wonders if he were out to them and, if so, how they reacted to his sexuality. Also, were they aware of his art and success? If so, were they proud or ashamed? If Hooven knows, he doesn’t tell the reader.

Even with these minor omissions, Hooven’s work provides a fine insight into the life and work of Tom of Finland and anyone interested in erotic artists, BDSM history, or gay and/or leather iconography will enjoy this book.

by Richard C. Robertiello, M.D.
Published in 1959 by Avon Books

Voyage from Lesbos is the case study of the “treatment” of a lesbian identified only as Connie as related by psychiatrist Richard Robertiello, M.D.

The book begins with a brief introduction to Connie. We learn that she works as a secretary, is attractive despite the fact that she’s slightly overweight, is able to discuss her homosexuality frankly, and is the submissive partner in her relationships.

A classical practician of psychoanalysis, Dr. Robertiello spends most of his time with Connie analyzing her childhood and dreams to help “cure” her of her homosexuality. As Robertiello reveals more about Connie, we “learn” the source of her inability to sexually relate to men stems from her the classic oedipal complex and her competitive relationship with her mother. Connie also seems to suffer from the belief that her genitals are dirty and that no decent man would want her.

Most frightening to me are the references to Connie’s depression. Depression is a legitimate and often debilitating mental illness. Sadly for Connie the person she entrusted to help her with her problems doesn’t recognize that depression is the illness she suffers from and needs the most help with, instead he views the depression as a natural symptom of her “real” illness: homosexuality.

If I didn’t know that this book dates from the 50s and that Robertiello’s other books were mainstream psychological discussion, I would have assumed this to be satire of Freudian psychology. But if it were satire, it would be too over the top to have the subtle edge of credibility that good satire demands.

Telling you that by the book’s end Robertiello claims to have successfully “cured” Connie of her homosexuality won’t ruin the book, but it might ruin the sense of comfort that you have with the current state of medical knowledge. As disconcerting as Robertiello’s opinions are, realizing that his opinions were considered to be fairly mainstream until about 30 years ago gives one pause. More frightening is that even today people (not just the extreme lunatic fringe) still believe that homosexuality is a disease in need of a cure. Knowing that some of those people hold high positions in government literally keeps me awake at night sometimes.

After reading this, I couldn’t help but wonder what became of Connie. Was she really “cured” of her homosexuality? Did she learn to embrace her lesbianism?

While I don’t believe for a moment that such a “cure” is possible or desirable, it certainly is possible someone might have denied their sexuality for the rest of their life. But at what cost? And what of others who, like Connie, were victimized not only by the real fear of coming out of the closet but by the professional psychological community that told them their sexuality was a mental illness? Luckily we’re now able to hear some of their stories, but nothing will make up what was taken from them.

by George Bishop
Published in 1964 by Century Books

As I read The Bisexuals my depraved thoughts returned obsessively to one thing: typesetting. Why typesetting? Because The Bisexuals is so riddled with typesetting errors that I sometimes wished for a Rosetta Stone to help decipher it.

I debated rearranging this review so that it would be as poorly presented as some passages in the book. But since I’m the only one who would get the joke and no one else would realize the errors were intentional, I decided to spare everyone the torment that I suffered through – there are limits to my sadistic streak.

Were this book printed overseas, I could have excused the typesetter on the theory that English wasn’t his native language. Unfortunately, in what is likely the only valid claim in the whole book, the title page says that the book was printed in the USA – shooting in the foot the notion that Americans used to take pride in their work.

Claiming to be “actual sex case histories collected by … the Western Adult Institute in its nationwide study on Sexual Incompatibility,” The Bisexuals crudely attempts to trace bisexuality through time and apply a “scientific” psychoanalytic approach to bisexual “deviation.” But beware, this is science on par with alchemy.

Still, there are a few good things about this book that kept me reading. For one, the prose flows easily and provides the requisite amount of salacious detail.

The chapter devoted to the Succubus was particularly interesting. Whether the tale of Carmen d’Angelo is historically true, I don’t know (a fast internet search turned up nothing), but the image of a repressed young man taking refuge in a cave and tying a leather thong to his cock to keep his sexual urges at bay was quite an entertaining yarn either way. Also interesting is the crime spree of Marcel Bonaventure (again, searching the internet turned up nothing). This passage proved un-arousing, but interesting all the same.

My favorite passage in the book is this quote credited to E. Burns Clarke (a likely fictitious source):

“An extreme form of this perversion (bisexuality) Burns Clarke continues, “is found when the woman watches a man have sexual intercourse with another woman and then, immediately following the orgasm, rushes to orally embrace his partially erect member, thus, in effect, performing the lesbian and heterosexual functions simultaneously by vicariously making love to the woman as well…”

How this man anticipated my fantasies several years before I was born, I don’t know, but that he characterizes them as “an extreme form of this perversion” only serves to warm my little twisted heart.

Other highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective) include bestiality, finger fetishism, and others.

Even though this book suffered from its poor printing quality and is an obvious work of fiction, I still enjoyed it and you may too.

by various
Self-published in 2008

I had never given much thought to drag kings prior to coming across this little DIY cut and paste zine. If you aren’t familiar with drag kings think of drag queens only vice versa.

The inaugural issue of Genderbent has articles focusing on the first International Drag King Extravaganza, a drag king conference, reminiscences of people’s first experience as a king, and tips on how to be a better king.

A fanzine shouldn’t be judged by the slickness of its layout or binding. Instead, for a fanzine to be good, it should have a level of enthusiasm for its subject that is contagious. By that standard, Genderbent is a wonderful little gem and I look forward to reading future issues.

Unfortunately, Genderbent doesn’t have a website of its own per se, but you can contact them on them via MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/genderbentzine.

by Jill Baker Boyle
Published in 1969 by Ram Classics

This book is the “autobiographical” account of Jill’s travels across the U.S. as she meets men and women that she has met through adult personal ads.

As our tale begins, Jill is home in Los Angeles with her husband, Lance, and her lesbian lover, Elise, preparing to bid them adieu as she departs in her van for a year of carnal adventures. After a goodbye evening of “triple loving,” Jill discovers her lovers have a surprise for her going away present: a painter has added “Hi-Ways and Bi-Ways” to the back of her customized van.

Jill’s first stop on her adventure is a meeting with a shy young lesbian, Joan, who lives a mere ten miles away. Inside Hi-Ways and Bi-Ways, Jill introduces Joan to the joys of lesbianism while parked outside the Laundromat. Before Jill departs, she plays matchmaker for Joan and her landlord.

Pressing forward on her journey, Jill travels to San Francisco to meet Mark. After a few days of shared passion and a night of drunkenness, Jill and Mark make their way to meet with Mark’s old girlfriend, Cora. Mark and Cora’s earlier romance ended because Mark was a high class boy and Cora was a girl born on the wrong side of the tracks. I won’t spoil the action for you, but this tryst contains the book’s best line “Take off that cheap nightie, baby, and let me see those tits of yours.”

Jill’s heads to Denver to meet a young married couple, Kansas City to meet a frumpy librarian with an interest in dildos, on to Chicago to meet with a transvestite named Robert, and finally to Indiana to meet yet another shy young lesbian, Lois.

We learn that Lois lives on a farm with her brother, Tom, and his wife, Wilma. Tom turns out to be an abusive drunk and Wilma is the object of Lois’ desires. Eventually, all four of them have an encounter on the farm which culminates in the best visual scene in the book. I can only describe it thus: garden hose enema.

When Jill tires of fun and frolic at the farm, she and Lois head to New York, the last stop in Jill’s itinerary. Jill plans to attend a private sex party and the final scene really heats up. You’ll have to read the book to see how it all ends.