SEXY ORIGINS AND INTIMATE THINGS; The Rites and Rituals of Straights, Gays, Bis, Drags, Trans, Virgins, and Others

Charles Panati

ISBN 10: 0140271449 / ISBN 13: 9780140271447

Published by Penguin Books, New York, 1998

About this Item

Very Good+ in wraps. Foxing on text block edges.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 432 pages.

Seller Inventory # 601670

Bibliographic Details

• Title: SEXY ORIGINS AND INTIMATE THINGS; The Rites and Rituals of Straights, Gays, Bis, Drags, Trans, Virgins, and Others
• Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0140271449
• ISBN 13: 9780140271447
• Binding: Softcover
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Culture and Sociology

About this title

Synopsis

A compendium of facts about sex reveals the origins of words, practices, and taboos, and discusses topics ranging from history's first love poem to the earliest known sex-change operation

Review

Conservatives complain that the contemporary world is obsessed with sex. It is true that during the past 100 years Western societies have broadened the permissible limits of openness in discussing sexuality. Yet with all of this freedom, the origins of much sexual language, folklore, and rituals are unknown. Not any more. Charles Panati's Sexy Origins and Intimate Things is a grab bag of cultural, sexual trivia that makes for compulsive reading and retelling. What are the origins of the words queer, fairy, faggot, and dyke? Who invented the bra and the corset? How did the common rituals surrounding marriage, sexual activity, circumcision, and birth come about? Which males throughout history had large penises? Well, not all of them, but Panati does manages to come up with a few surprising names. Hardly science and not really sociology, Sexy Origins and Intimate Things will fully equip you to chat your way through your next 50 dinner parties.