Pervert’s Library

by Robert H. Sheldon
Published in 1968 by Viceroy Books

I approached this book with a bit of trepidation and uncertainty as to whether I would be able to finish it. It was not because I don’t like perversion. Anyone who knows me well will vouch for my deep affinity for perversion. The back cover which features the word “incest” in large type caused my uncertainly. While the first (thankfully) short chapter is devoted book is devoted to that very topic.

With a title that promised perversion, I had hoped the book would take me for a shocking journey into the recesses of the depraved sexual mind. Instead, I journeyed back in time, specifically San Francisco in the 60s at the height of hippie culture.

Having been born after the 60s, and having parents who were anything but counterculture, it’s sometimes hard to relate to the turmoil and confusion of the Vietnam era. While I often hear people who lived through 60s talk about sweeping social revolutions and the incumbent fears that they produced, it usually comes across as self-aggrandizement. Old hippies can claim that they ended the war in Vietnam all they want, but they’re full of shit. In fact, I’m certain the Vietcong weren’t sitting around in their tunnels hoping that the next “Love In” was going to be the one that put the peace movement over the top.

But I digress. Good exploitation takes the worst fears of the middle class and puts them on garish display. By that standard, this book is an example great exploitation. (The implied bestiality didn’t hurt matters either.) Most of the tales follow the sexual exploits of outsiders, be they bikers, hippies, the young, blacks, and so on. I can imagine the various exploits of sex and drugs would make the average middle class Midwestern hausfrau flip her wig.

Readers with modern sensitivities may find themselves shocked by some of the racist language in the book. While I learned a new slur “ofay” (a slang term for crackers like myself), it’s not one that I’m likely to ever use. Oh, there’s a lots of uses of the “nigger” thrown in the mix too. Particularly humorous when a character is touting their virtues as sex partners.

If you want an accurate historical document of sexual outsiders, I can’t really recommend Perversion and Beyond, but if you want insight into the fears of the middle class during the end of the 60’s, you can’t go wrong.

by Joseph W. Bean
Published in 2000 by Greenery Press

The foreword to Flogging begins, “You cannot learn flogging – Top or bottom – from a book.” While many might find that a curious claim for a book that sets about teaching the art of flogging, that forthright admission is fine evidence of this book’s value.

Covering everything from negotiation, positioning, types of floggers, techniques, managing the scene, aftercare, toy care, and all points in between in fine detail, Bean offers a comprehensive guide that gives one the tools they need to explore the world of flogging.

My only complaint with this book is the heavy use of narrative scene interludes to emphasize the instructional text. While a standard format for BDSM technique books, it distracts from a book’s narrative flow. I wish I knew who was responsible for starting this trend in the genre so I could make them pay dearly for the literary agony their legacy has inflicted on me. (Actually, I do know who shoulders the blame for this. Though I haven’t read or reviewed that book yet, I will eventually. While I promise to read that book with an open and unbiased mind, I feel confident I’ll excoriate them appropriately.) Bean’s narratives describe flogging scenes in detail, and he references them frequently in his instructional text. If these scenes and their references were omitted, the finished work would be a pamphlet and not a book.

While Bean clearly knows his topic, I can’t escape the feeling that using a different format would have allowed him to cover it in greater depth and scope which is a shame. My complaint aside, Flogging is an essential reference that anyone who wishes to explore the erotic possibilities of flagellation will be well served to read.

by Dossie Eastman and Janet W. Hardy
Published in 2003 by Greenery Press

Covering everything from negotiation to aftercare The New Topping Book is a thorough guide to the emotional side of topping. While the practical advice is expected, it’s the unexpected things that make this book truly worthwhile.

I was particularly heartened to see the “Top’s Bill of Rights.” Too often, the fact that we as tops have needs is overlooked (even by other tops). I suppose that the general belief that if the top is in charge and not getting his needs met it is his own failure. This is at best simplistic. A good scene is like a dance; unless you’re Billy Idol dancing with yourself isn’t much fun.

Naturally not only do tops have rights but also responsibilities and “The Top’s List of Responsibilities” delineates these well.

Having something go wrong in a scene is inevitable. Sometimes that wrong thing turns out to be something nice though that obviously isn’t normally the case. The pages devoted to preparing for this eventuality are of particular interest, and will help give any responsible top the tools he needs to manage a scene.

I can only find one fault with this book: the narrative interludes. Their appearance needlessly jolts the flow of the book. While learning from other people’s experiences is invaluable, the book would have improved if those experiences were relayed in the same voice that the rest of the text is written in. This is but a minor complaint and the book is more than strong enough to overcome it. Highly recommended.

by Richard J. Lambert, MD
Published in 1936 by Franklin Publishing Company

Like Sex Facts for Men, Sex Facts for Women is a condensed version of the Dr. Lambert’s book Sex and Marriage. This booklet is not only a vivid reminder of how society’s view of women’s sexuality has changed, but also serves as a near perfect example of how the traditional view of femininity severely limited women’s opportunities in society.

The first section is devoted to the “Anatomy and Physiology of the Female Generative Organs.” Amid the straightforward description of the female reproductive system, Dr. Lambert drops this bomb which made me pity Mrs. Lambert, “The important organs…are the uterus…and the vagina. Besides these there are others of less importance, as the clitoris and the vulva.” To be fair, he doesn’t completely ignore the clitoris. Later in the chapter he mentions:

“The clitoris has a tiny foreskin similar to that of a male, and like that of the male organ sometimes this foreskin is bound down too tightly and causes irritation. An operation similar to circumcision in the male must be performed to relieve the nervous irritation.”

I can’t help but wonder what exactly constitutes “nervous irritation.” I suspect it’s a condition found in girls who enjoy touching their nether regions, and can’t help but wonder how many girls had their genitals mutilated for their “own good.”

The next section of the booklet is devoted to puberty and menstruation. It’s here that Dr. Lambert starts to really go off the deep end. He claims that at the onset of puberty girls should be protected lest they suffer from too much mental strain. He even recommends that a young woman be allowed to cut back on her studies so as to not “overtax her strength trying to keep up with her classes.” Parents are advised to expect their daughters to develop an interest in the “domestic arts” and encouraged to let their daughters pursue this interest even though the mother can do household chores more efficiently.

The other sections continue in similar fashion covering reproduction and pregnancy. Not surprisingly, unlike Sex Facts for Men, there is no mention of masturbation. Presumably that’s because girls, even bad ones, don’t do that.

Aside from the vivid examples of the antiquated standards by which women were judged in decades past, there’s not much to recommend here.

by Richard J. Lambert, MD
Published in 1936 by Franklin Publishing Company

A condensed version of the Dr. Lambert’s book Sex and Marriage, Sex Facts for Men begins with by lamenting that most young men get their sex advice from their ill-informed peers because their fathers are failing to do the job. I couldn’t help but think of modern sex education proponents who, while agreeing with opponents of sex education in public schools that sex education should be taught at home, assert that sex education is necessary because parents are failing to provide that education. Unfortunately, that where any notion of progressive thinking about human sexuality ends as the bulk of Sex Facts for Men is squarely in the camp that sex is an act only reserved for a marriage between a man and a woman, and even in those circumstances they should be careful to not indulge too often.

The first section includes an explanation of the male reproductive system that reads very much like the chapter of my own high school health textbook, save for the fact that the exact function of some sex organs was, presumably, unknown when this book was written. Dr. Lambert claims in this section that the left testicle of most men hangs lower than the right. I don’t remember that from health class. A quick examination (life offers few opportunities to touch oneself and call it research, so you can’t fault me for taking full advantage of everyone that arises) reveals that, for me at least, Dr. Lambert seems to be correct. Oddly, I find that reassuring. I’ll have survey some of the women I know (they’ll tell the truth) and see what they report. For the sake of accuracy, I’ll ask that they exclude men who enjoy ball kicking as men who’ve been kicked in the balls repeatedly might tend to skew the results.

The word “continence,” like “licit” and “biotic”, is one of only a few words that one usually sees in a negative form (i.e. illicit, antibiotic), and as I was a bit confused when I began the pamphlet’s next section, “Is Continence Harmful?” Adding to my confusion, incontinence suggests, at least to me, the loss of bladder or bowel control. Though I hadn’t read the section, I felt fairly sure that Dr. Lambert wasn’t the sort of physician who would advocate showers either golden or brown. Still, I held out a faint hope that the doctor might make me reconsider the virtue of good old fashioned family values. Alas despite my domitable optimism, the good doctor merely takes to task those who claim that abstinence is harmful to one’s physical and mental wellbeing.

Dr. Lambert next turns his attention to offering advice to the bridegroom. Having previously sung the praises of remaining chaste before one is married, his admonition that young married couples should avoid becoming consumed with pleasures of the flesh is, by contemporary standards, comical. To help young married couples avoid temptation, Lambert suggests that young married couples avoid sharing a bed lest their rubbing bodies cause them to fall victim to temptation. Doing so will help men avoid becoming obsessed by sex to the detriment of their careers.

In the chapter’s closing paragraph, he does take a moment to advise men of the value of foreplay or as he calls it “wooing.” Dr. Lambert notes that women require “wooing” not only during courtship, but before every sexual encounter. I’m sure most women will agree that in this instance he’s right. .

The final chapter addresses masturbation and promises an objective view free from stereotypes or shame. But since it bears the title “Self Abuse,” you can imagine that the doctor’s view of masturbation is anything but objective. To his credit, Lambert does point out that stereotypes of self abuse leading to blindness or madness are false. Still, he clearly sees masturbation as a moral wrong that cannot be tolerated. His obsession is so deep, that he abhors the natural curiosity toddlers have with their genitals.

Still if you lack common sense and wish to follow Lambert’s advice for redirecting masturbatory urges, you’ll want to make sure and not to administer corporal punishment on a young person caught in the act. This is because not only will corporation be unlikely to dissuade them, it may give them a perversion even worse than masturbation: enjoy pain during the sexual act.

All-in-all, this pamphlet provides much to laugh at given how much our values have changed since it was written. It’s a fascinating read and a good insight to the bad advice that many baby boomers received when it came to sex. I can’t imagine anyone today finding this book an accurate assessment of sexuality unless they were of a militant protestant persuasion. If you have a friend who is uncomfortable discussing sex with their teenagers, I’m sure the doctor’s complete book would make a fine gift but only to remind them of their responsibility to their children and all the horrible advice their children might receive if they neglect that responsibility.

by Cliff Barrett, Ph.D.
Published in 1972 by Impact Library

Though the attention grabbing cover blurbs promise insight into a world of women who either “live and love by whip and pain and twisted torture” and “…females who attain amazing summit fulfillment by painful agony aberrations,” Whip Worship reads more like a series of random stories thrown together willy-nilly instead of a cohesive narrative of any form.

The first scene of the book is a rather standard case history of two teenage sisters. (Well, the tale they tell of turning tricks while hitchhiking isn’t exactly standard but the “case study” format of the concerned psychologist is.)

Next, we are then treated to a first person account of a group of soldiers enjoying the spoils of war. Even though the gangbang triple penetration described therein is arousing, the abrupt shift in writing styles is abrupt so much so that it proves distracting.

There’s little need to describe the rest of the scenes – they vacillate from tired third person narratives of sadistic prostitution rings to the confession of a depraved bisexual masochist – the sort of girl that fantasies are made of – to an upper class masochistic man who enjoys the charms of street urchins of both sexes. It’s the last vignette I mentioned that serves both as a crescendo of depravity and the books’ highlight. Despite the fact that it wasn’t at all arousing to me sexually, the vivid descriptions of enjoying cunnilingus with a VD sufferer and the glass table show made me feel a little morally superior. No matter how twisted or demented my fantasies might become, I can take solace in the fact that I haven’t sunk quite as low as Mr. Upper Crust.

In sum, this is a mess of a book. Readers who enjoy their smut straight, predictable, and internally consistent should stay away. However, sick fucks like me will find themselves happy.