The New Joy of Sex

It was modeled on a cookbook — “The Joy of Cooking” — but the illustrations were a little different. A kind of everyman’s Kama Sutra. Looking back, maybe too much man, and not enough woman, in the huge bestseller’s perspective.

And that’s not all that’s changed in the decades since. A big, brand-new edition of “The Joy of Sex” revisits the whole subject, top to bottom.

This hour, On Point: The Joy of Sex, take two.

You can join the conversation. Do you remember the first edition, and what it stood for? Celebrated? How do you see our relationship with sex having changed since 1972?

Guests:

Joining us from New York is Susan Quilliam, relationship psychologist, sexologist, and advice columnist. She’s the first woman to revise Alex Comfort’s 1972 original work, “The Joy of Sex.” Her new version, out this month, is "The Joy of Sex: The Timeless Guide to Lovemaking." 
Read an excerpt from Quilliam's new edition.
And from Burbank, California, is Pepper Schwartz, sociologist and sexologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.  She's written advice columns for Glamour Magazine, Perfectmatch.com, and Medhelp.org.  Her most recent book is "Prime: Adventures and Advice on Sex, Love, and the Sensual Years."

 More links:

Read The New Yorker's recent review-essay on "The Joy of Sex" and the story behind it.