Pervert’s Library

By Dr. Kurt Donsbach
Published in 1983 by The International Institute of Natural Health Sciences, Inc.

I know I am different from most people, but the first thing I wondered when I read this book’s title was whether I could trust a book with such a grammatically awkward title. (I can’t.) Actually, that was the second thing I wondered. The first thing I wondered was if (and how) the book would handle the delicate discussion of the simple joys of having a finger up your ass.

As much as I might like to claim otherwise, I honestly was not terribly surprised that the book did not discuss the joy of manual stimulation of the prostrate with a finger or other object. I would have been more surprised if it had, and you could have knocked me over with a feather if it had delved into the obscure subject of prostate milking.

Thanks to the fine folks at quackwatch.org, I was able to learn everything I wanted to know about the storied career of Dr. Donsbach. I personally am quite skeptical of alternative medicine, but even alternative medicine’s advocates would be well advised to be suspicious of the likes of Dr. Donsbach.

Even if I wasn’t able to read the quackwatch.org article, it takes little time for even a layperson like me to determine that Dr. Donsbach’s medical advice isn’t to be trusted as he devotes the book’s first half to outlandish and unsupportable claims about the restorative properties of nutrition as it relates to prostate health.

The most entertaining portion of this book is Dr. Donsbach’s “Liver-Kidney-Bowel Cleansing Fast.” Unless you enjoy scat play, I can’t imagine that anyone would ever attempt to follow this particular program.

Even though absolutely nothing in this book seems factually reliable, I did enjoy it thoroughly. However, it was the same sense of enjoyment that I derive from driving by a car wreck.

Self Published in 2007

While some people are put off by any hint of amateurishness in a zine, I typically find it endearing. There is something a little annoying about a zine that’s too slick or perfect. No one is likely to accuse The Porn Project’s inaugural issue of being too slick. For one thing, unlike most zines which are saddle-stitched (stapled in the middle) each issue of The Porn Project is lovingly hand assembled and bound with a rubber band.

Usually I appreciate that sort of personal attention to each issue of a zine, but that amateurishness makes the cover price of $5 seem a bit stiff. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think the fine ladies of The Porn Project are profiteering. Doubtless the writers and publishers of this would be fortunate if they broke even financially. Still $5 bucks is a hefty price tag for a publication of this type.

If that were the only thing wrong with The Porn Project, I would give it my hearty endorsement. Alas, despite its name, The Porn Project is devoid of anything approaching porn. Instead, you get bad poetry and some ho-hum “herotica.” It’s a shame really since girl porn tends to be much better than boy porn; I expected a much better offering from an all woman porn product.

That said, the first issue did show promise and the women of The Porn Project do deserve some praise for getting off their asses and making the sort of porn they like instead of griping about the sort that other people make (yes, I am fully aware of the irony here).

If you want to get a copy in your own sweaty palms, you can contact The Porn Project via MySpace at www.myspace.com/thepornproject. (Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did.)

by Newton Riddell
Published in 1909 by Riddell Publishing

Back in high school I had the misfortune of attending an assembly where we were forced to listen to lectures from a “motivational” speaker. How I was supposed to be motivated by someone who couldn’t find a better job than speaking to disinterested high school students I don’t know. We actually suffered through several of these ne’er-do-wells. There are only two that stand out in my mind.

The first was the ex-con who was covered in some of the worst tattoos I’ve seen. I remember that he tried to spice up his introduction with some bad slapstick comedy and then proceeded to tell us about how we should stay away from crime so we wouldn’t be like him. His message would have been more effective had he owned up to the fact that as a result of his life of crime he had to take a shitty job trying to motivate high school students. Then, as now, that certainly would have frightened me to stay on the straight and narrow.

The other that I recall was the Christian sort. Because I went to a public high school, he couldn’t come out with his religious beliefs so he kept them thinly veiled. He cautioned about the virtues of delayed gratification and he encouraged us to go the chastity route. He was on tour and pushing his book. I actually thumbed through a copy of that tripe on the school bus. It was a poorly researched tome that fully embraced the teenage moral panics that were all the rage in the 80s: Satanism, heavy metal music, etc. I recall very distinctly that he misidentified the title of a heavy metal song he claimed was directly responsible for several suicides. Of course expecting a high degree of accuracy from the high school motivational speaker is a fool’s errand.

What does that have to do with Mr. Riddell and The New Man? Not much actually. While I couldn’t find much information on Riddell, he apparently wrote several other books and was known in his time a temperance proponent. His, apparently, self-published book makes frequent mention of his lectures. How successful he was as a speaker, I don’t know. But having read the book and Riddell’s philosophy, I imagine that any teenager forced to listen would have been as unimpressed as I was when I had to suffer through motivational speakers in high school.

Riddell lays out a philosophy for a “new man” who “shall combine in his nature the best elements of the types revealed in history – physical strength plus noble birth, plus commercial enterprise, plus intellectual power, plus Christ.” It’s all a bit much to go into here and isn’t particularly interesting.

Just as I ready to give up on the book, I came across the racy disclaimer that kept me turning pages: “Parts I, II, III and IV deal with the problem of sex and are intended for private reading…” When Riddell says the “problem of sex” he isn’t kidding, he literally thinks that sex is an activity which must be avoided even within the confines of marriage. He goes on at great lengths about how a man is perverting the sex act by thinking of his wife in a lustful way.

Riddell’s aversion to sexuality was so strong that I was left to wonder from where it came. I can almost imagine Riddell being one of those rare folks who in a desperate bid to rid himself of his abnormal desires cuts off his own penis in the pursuit of purity. Alternately it seems possible that his aversion to sex was a reaction to a severely repressed homosexuality. While the latter seems more probable, the former seems much more entertaining. Either way, you have to figure that any woman he married lived a life of frustration (unless of course, he married a lesbian but what are the odds?).

At any rate, Riddell’s preoccupation with sex as a act to be avoided was exceedingly humorous to me and I imagine it must have struck many of his contemporaries as just as comical. While I wouldn’t go out of my way to track down a copy of the book, it wasn’t a completely bad read if only for its unintended humor.

by Hugh Jones
Published in 1965 by Brandon House

This early representative of the pseudo-sociological exposé is a tough one to review for a couple of reasons. First, unlike many books of this genre that followed, this book does a fairly good job of selling the notion that it is reporting the unvarnished truth about its subject matter. Second, it somehow manages to straddle the imaginary exploitation line of simultaneously condemning and glamorizing the people it mentions.

The first clue that the “facts” we’re about to be introduced to may not be on the up and up, is that the foreword was penned by the imminent pseudo-psychiatrist Dr. Leathem. The appearance of a byline featuring the extraordinarily prolific Dr. Leathem is fair warning that you’re leaving the hallowed halls of the academia to peer through the glory hole in the men’s room stall.

Jones begins by explaining what a fetish is. Surprisingly, rather than suggest that having a fetish is in and of itself clear evidence that one is pathological, Jones takes the position (notably progressive for its time) that a having a fetish may or may not require psychiatric intervention.

Each chapter is devoted to a particular fetish and the book is devoted to the most common fetishes. Oddly, even though this book covers 15 or so fetish categories it is notably thin on lurid details, kinky or otherwise.

The standout chapter in this one is the one devoted to a tight jeans fetish. I’ve read about lots of fetishes (including some that make even me – and likely Jones too if he were familiar with them – cringe) and have never encounter a fetish for tight pants. Don’t get me wrong, there’s likely no bigger booster of hip huggers worn on the right hips than myself, I just never contemplated them as fetish wear per se.

That isn’t why I found this chapter so interesting though. Rather what made it fun to read was that rather than relay accounts from the perspective of a man that enjoyed tight pants, Jones wrote this chapter from the perspective of girls who enjoy the attention they get as a result of wearing them. As the story goes, a certain manufacturer sends out samples of the newest styles to select clubs of girls around the country. The girls then sit around and discuss the merits of the pants and report their thoughts back to the manufacturer. I suspect that the dynamic was supposed to mimic Beatles fan clubs and the like. It’s priceless at any rate.

At the end of the book, Jones includes a selected bibliography that lists most of the famous psychological books about fetishes. This was a nice touch that helps sell the notion that the book is reporting the facts. Unfortunately, I’m still not buying it.

Given the year when this book was published, it’s not too surprising that the book plays coy. Publishers had to be careful to keep their material above board lest it be subject to censorship. Still, this book plays it too safe and fails to either educate or titillate.

If you want vivid, heart pounding erotica, this is not the book for you. But as an early time capsule of erotica disguised as educational material, The Sexual Fetish in Today’s Society is a winner.

by Race Bannon
Published in 1992 by Daedalus Publishing

Given that this book was written as an introduction to S/M, the title seems a tad misleading and suggests a heavy emphasis on rope bondage. While there is a fine section devoted to introductory bondage, there’s lots more to Learning the Ropes. Bannon writes in a friendly conversational style that is easy to follow. In some ways the book almost seems too short, but the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that isn’t the case. Instead, Bannon deserves heaps of praise for being at once concise and thorough. Everything someone interested in learning about S/M needs to know is covered, but Bannon rightfully takes the reader only so far before making the reader responsible for learning about their own desires and how to fulfill them.

While Bannon is clearly deeply concerned with safety, he recognizes that we all bear a certain amount of personal responsibility for it. The result is wonderful. Readers are armed with the tools they’ll need to be reasonably safe, but not so badgered about it that the reader might wonder if the book were written by the same lawyers that write safety warnings on power tools.

Even though the book manages to be guilty of using fictionalized interludes, they appear once after an explanation of their purpose. Most fantastically, instead of hampering the flow of the book they manage to actually enhance it.

The next time someone new to BDSM asks about books they should read, I’ll make a point to recommend this one. It’s that good.

I’m surprised that it isn’t more widely recognized compared to other books that offer advice to those learning about S/M. I can think of two reasons why this might be the case.

First, Daedalus is a smaller company whose books aren’t as widely distributed as publishing companies like Greenery Press or Mystic Rose. If a book isn’t easily obtainable, it’s less likely to be adopted as a standard text.

The second reason I can think of for the book’s lack of prominence saddens me: Bannon is gay. While I’ll admit that I’m in a poor position to judge the book’s standing within the gay S/M community, I can’t help but think his sexuality pushes him to the fringes in the “pansexual” community.

In theory, a pansexual community values everyone equally without regard to their sexuality. In practice, heterosexual men tend to be held in the highest esteem. Curiously, while the cachet of bisexual women is as high, if not higher, than that of heterosexual women, bisexual men are viewed with large amounts of suspicion by men and women alike. Gay men occupy a space somewhat above their bisexual counterparts, but they’re still not seen as quite as “good” as heterosexuals. The transgendered are on the outside looking in.

I admit with a some of shame that I’m never sure how to relate to the transgendered. I worry a great deal about pronouns – I’m never sure which to use. Asking would no doubt be the easiest way of finding out. The trouble is that by asking you’re forced to confront the fact that someone is different and one wants very much to not make someone feel different – that’s the reason that not getting pronouns right causes so much anxiety in the first place. So there I am avoiding someone because I fear that in talking to them I’ll say something offensive and make them feel awkward. Yet avoiding the transgendered and all but guarantees they will feel like outsiders. It’s a vicious cycle. The worst part is knowing that I’m losing out too. When I pick the people who I consider my friends, I judge them based on whether they are interesting, treat me and others fairly, and support me when I need it. Whether or not that person is a man, woman, or transperson doesn’t really affect that one whit.

But I digress. This is a fine book that would be a good resource to anyone regardless of their sexual or S/M orientation. Sadly, Learning the Ropes appears to be out of print, but if you want to learn about S/M it is well worth the time and effort to track it down.