The Joy of Gay Sex: An Intimate Guide for Gay Men to the Pleasures of a Gay Lifestyle
Notes: Following the huge success of Alex Comfort's Joy of Sex (1972), the publisher commissioned similar volumes devoted to gay and lesbian sex and published them in 1977. For the mid-1970s, putting books celebrating gay and lesbian sex into mainstream bookstores was a pretty radical notion. The Joy of Lesbian Sex fizzled, but the Joy of Gay Sex remains in print today in a revised edition.
The book appeared four years before the first AIDS cases were identified and the authors struggled with the influence their book had on promoting what were soon to become dangerous sex practices. Many in the gay community felt that The Joy of Gay Sex "had celebrated a culture of sexual freedom which had brought death to the community" (David Bergman, The Violet Hour, p. 236). Siverstein would revise the book for the safe-sex era and it continues to be one of the most popular books on the subject.
The authors were a psychologist (Silverstein) and a gay writer (White). Silverstein was instrumental in having homosexuality removed from the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual).
239 pages. Illustrated by Michael Leonard.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A very good to near fine copy in a like dust jacket.
Publication: New York: Crown Publishers, 1977.
ISBN: 0517531585
Item No: #361588
Sold