Sex: A User's Guide

Book excerpt: Everything you always wanted to know about the more curious aspects of sex but were afraid to ask: the history of sex; sex and religion; sex and the law; sexual customs around the world; the biology of sex; the physiology of sex, anatomical curiosities; Gay and lesbian sex; sex and the animal kingdom; the great sex manuals; sex in literature, film and art; sex aids and toys; aphrodisiacs; masturbation; pornography; famous sexual athletes (and famous flops); the language of sex; kinks and fetishes; perversions; urban myths, tales of outrageous behaviour and a catalogue of bizarre facts and figures. Did you know---One of the lesser-known fetishes is Axillism ? the erotic attraction of armpits.--In the Lebanon it is legal for a man to have sex with any female animal, but if he has sex with a male animal it is punishable by death.--Cleopatra is said to have owned one of the world's first vibrators. Cleopatra's toy didn't run on batteries, it was insect powered - a small, hollow implement full of buzzing bees.--Arab fishermen used to have sex with any 'dugong' (sea-cow) they accidentally drowned in their nets. This practice was meant to stop the dead animal's relatives seeking revenge and drowning the fisherman.