Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/1/2008
This book is in a Controlled Release!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 4/1/2008 This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
I'd thoroughly enjoyed Roach's previous books, Stiff and Spook, and was eagerly awaiting her next book - so when I wandered into Borders today, 40-percent-off coupon in hand, and saw this book among the new releases, I nabbed it at once! [In case you can't quite make out the cover illustration, it shows two ladybugs in flagrante delicto on top of the (pardon the expression) big O. I don't think the placement was accidental. And it's probably just as well that the title Stiff was already taken {grin}.]
This was another fun-and-informative book from Roach - in which, to my surprise, she not only took part in a few experiments herself, but got her husband to join in a time or two. That's dedication!
Much of the book deals with the history of scientific research into the subject of sex, some of it surprisingly advanced for its day and a LOT of it either terribly off-base or just plain horrifying. OK, and some of it's hilarious - a 1491 document asserting that witches remove the male organs from their victims and stockpile them in a bird's nest, about which Roach can only add "I lament the long, dry journey that legal publishing has made in the centuries since 1491".
Some sections deal with more modern research, including one cringe-inducing chapter called "Re-member Me", about possible solutions for lost penises. There are accounts of quite a few de-memberings, accidental or otherwise, and this may be a chapter that some readers would prefer to skip {wry grin}.
There are some hilarious scenes in here as well, for a change of pace: the bit in the sex-toy factory, with heaps of dildos and tables full of plastic vaginas comes to mind. Roach introduces this bit with "There are images that stay with you your whole life, whether you want them to or not. Here is one that I imagine will make the cut." I'll leave the actual scene for the reader to discover, but not long after this there's a footnote explaining the correct pronunciation of "clitoris", and referring the reader to the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, where you can click on an icon and "hear a nice lady saying 'CLIT-oris' out loud for you, over and over, as many times as you click. The nice lady will also say 'cervix' and 'nipple,' but it is the nice man who gets to say 'vagina,' 'vulva,' and orgasm,' plus all the male genital words. Smelling sexism, I entered 'housewife,' which was read aloud by the woman, as was 'maid,' 'stewardess,' and 'flower.' However, it is also the woman who pronounces 'linebacker,' 'doctor,' 'president,' and 'fireman.' So never mind. Can you say 'waste of half an hour?'"
In the chapter "The Immaculate Orgasm: Who Needs Genitals?", there's a discussion of different types of orgasms, and I was surprised to see this bit: "There's one more varietal orgasm I want to ask Sipski about: the kind some kids hav climbing the ropes in gym class. Sipski wasn't one of those kids. 'I have never heard of this.' We both look at each other like we're nuts." The passage intrigued me in part because Sipski, a researcher into orgasms, had never heard of that kind - and in part because, um, well, I used to have some enjoyable times shinnying up the playground equipment, and it's nice to know that I'm not alone!
There are loads more tidbits here, but I'll end with the one about the effect of scent on sexual attraction; Roach cites research proving that not only does cologne turn women off (or, more clinically, "reduce vaginal blood flow"), but so does the scent of "charcoal barbecue meat". [I'm not sure about that last one; not that I find myself drawn to men smelling of smoke, but I don't consider it a turn-off. But maybe the problem is that it's appetizing, causing blood flow to re-route to the digestive system. Eh?]
Oh, OK, one more. In the famous Masters and Johnson studies, the best sex going on in the lab was "the sex being had by committed gay and lesbian couples. Not because they were practicing special secret homosexual sex techniques, but because they 'took their time.' They lost themselves - in each other, and in sex." Apparently Masters and Johnson's heterosexual subjects "failed to grasp that if you lost yourself in the tease - in the pleasure and power of turning someone on - that that could be as arousing as being teased and turned on oneself." Words to live by!
This was another fun-and-informative book from Roach - in which, to my surprise, she not only took part in a few experiments herself, but got her husband to join in a time or two. That's dedication!
Much of the book deals with the history of scientific research into the subject of sex, some of it surprisingly advanced for its day and a LOT of it either terribly off-base or just plain horrifying. OK, and some of it's hilarious - a 1491 document asserting that witches remove the male organs from their victims and stockpile them in a bird's nest, about which Roach can only add "I lament the long, dry journey that legal publishing has made in the centuries since 1491".
Some sections deal with more modern research, including one cringe-inducing chapter called "Re-member Me", about possible solutions for lost penises. There are accounts of quite a few de-memberings, accidental or otherwise, and this may be a chapter that some readers would prefer to skip {wry grin}.
There are some hilarious scenes in here as well, for a change of pace: the bit in the sex-toy factory, with heaps of dildos and tables full of plastic vaginas comes to mind. Roach introduces this bit with "There are images that stay with you your whole life, whether you want them to or not. Here is one that I imagine will make the cut." I'll leave the actual scene for the reader to discover, but not long after this there's a footnote explaining the correct pronunciation of "clitoris", and referring the reader to the Merriam-Webster Online dictionary, where you can click on an icon and "hear a nice lady saying 'CLIT-oris' out loud for you, over and over, as many times as you click. The nice lady will also say 'cervix' and 'nipple,' but it is the nice man who gets to say 'vagina,' 'vulva,' and orgasm,' plus all the male genital words. Smelling sexism, I entered 'housewife,' which was read aloud by the woman, as was 'maid,' 'stewardess,' and 'flower.' However, it is also the woman who pronounces 'linebacker,' 'doctor,' 'president,' and 'fireman.' So never mind. Can you say 'waste of half an hour?'"
In the chapter "The Immaculate Orgasm: Who Needs Genitals?", there's a discussion of different types of orgasms, and I was surprised to see this bit: "There's one more varietal orgasm I want to ask Sipski about: the kind some kids hav climbing the ropes in gym class. Sipski wasn't one of those kids. 'I have never heard of this.' We both look at each other like we're nuts." The passage intrigued me in part because Sipski, a researcher into orgasms, had never heard of that kind - and in part because, um, well, I used to have some enjoyable times shinnying up the playground equipment, and it's nice to know that I'm not alone!
There are loads more tidbits here, but I'll end with the one about the effect of scent on sexual attraction; Roach cites research proving that not only does cologne turn women off (or, more clinically, "reduce vaginal blood flow"), but so does the scent of "charcoal barbecue meat". [I'm not sure about that last one; not that I find myself drawn to men smelling of smoke, but I don't consider it a turn-off. But maybe the problem is that it's appetizing, causing blood flow to re-route to the digestive system. Eh?]
Oh, OK, one more. In the famous Masters and Johnson studies, the best sex going on in the lab was "the sex being had by committed gay and lesbian couples. Not because they were practicing special secret homosexual sex techniques, but because they 'took their time.' They lost themselves - in each other, and in sex." Apparently Masters and Johnson's heterosexual subjects "failed to grasp that if you lost yourself in the tease - in the pleasure and power of turning someone on - that that could be as arousing as being teased and turned on oneself." Words to live by!
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
This was one of several books that I took down to Sleepy Hollow to give to my sister. She's enjoyed Roach's other books so she should like this one...
This was one of several books that I took down to Sleepy Hollow to give to my sister. She's enjoyed Roach's other books so she should like this one...
