Joyful Gay Sex

In the early 1970s, Dr. Alex Comfort's "The Joy of Sex" provided couples (and horny teen-aged boys!) with a thoughtful, thorough and explicit look at a wide variety of sexual topics. In many ways, it was the unofficial users manual of the Sexual Revolution. It was also the first of too many sex manuals to use the word "joy" in its title.

Plenty of sex guides have hit bookshelves since then, for both straight and gay readers. The latest, "Joyful Gay Sex: The Ultimate Pleasure Guide," from writer Sven Rebel, is a 192-page tome that explains many gay sexual subjects from masturbation to some of the more provocative fetishes. Rebel's simple, straightforward explanations are supplemented by plenty of hardcore photos from some of the leading gay porn studios for a little visual eye candy.

The book starts by readers on an exploration of cruising for men online, safe sex practices, oral sex, condoms, lube and cruising for play partners in city parks before eventually getting to "Stick It In," the section devoted to the ins and outs of anal sex.

In that chapter, he covers douching, prostate stimulation and several of the more common positions for doing the homo hokey-pokey. A more extensive list, or even some diagrams of more athletic positions, would have been a good inclusion.

Rebel then moves onto "Drugs: An Endless High," which discusses the pleasures and hazards of a variety of party drugs, from crystal meth and poppers to GHB and Special K. To his credit, Rebel discusses the effects of these substances while also stressing their potentially life-damaging side effects. Oddly, he offers no info on Viagra, Cialis and other erectile dysfunction treatments.

"Play with Me" addresses a variety of nightstand toys including dildos, fleshjacks, handcuffs and nipple clamps. "Warning: Contagious" gives some info on the major STDs and physical ailments that can result from sexual contact, including syphilis, gonorrhea, HIV, chlamydia, hepatitis and crabs.

Many readers might find Rebel's explanations too much of a primer, offering fairly rudimentary info on a variety of subjects to men apparently unfamiliar with gay sex. One passage about phone sex reads: "Phone sex is no longer very current. These days, it's more common to go online and chat. This is called cybersex."

The final section, "Fetish," covers a variety of special interests and proclivities, from leather and threesomes to S&M, breath control, mummification, felching, and those perennial Howard Stern favorites, the Dirty Sanchez and Bukkake. One new term for this reviewer was "figging" which apparently involves sticking a piece of peeled ginger inside someone's nether regions, where it produces a rapid and intense burning sensation. Something to try next time you're eating take-out sushi, I suppose.

"Joyful Gay Sex" will be helpful and informative for novices to the gay scene, but its erotic photos will likely make it a restricted access book, keeping it out of places like libraries and many bookstores where it could be a useful reference tool.

"Joyful Gay Sex"
Sven Rebel
Bruno Gmuender Verlag GmbH
$24.99
www.brunogmuender.com