Getting Off

September 1, 2007
A 2003 Australian study outed via "New Scientist" and even Doonesbury implied that men's regular orgasmscoupled or solocould discourage prostate cancer. Women, too, stand to benefit from ménage à moi with better sexual self-knowledge as well as discovering techniques that work alone or with a partner. This contemporary blend of pep talk, how-tos, solid information about sex toys, scientific details, and sociohistorical perspectives aims to equalize the gender payoff. References anchor the facts and statistics, plus an excellent resource list rounds out the volume. Degreed in sex education, Waxman writes sex-advice columns for three magazines and interned in New York's femina-friendly sex shop Babeland. The scientific, historical, and cultural background takes this beyond Sadie Allison's "Tickle Your Fancy", which nonetheless ranks high as a manual owing to better illustrations. The classic for both sexes is Betty Dodson's "Sex for One", with Dodson's exquisite drawings. Recommended nonmanuals include this reviewer's "The Big Book of Masturbation" and the more scholarly Thomas Laqueur's "Solitary Sex: A Cultural History of Masturbation". Recommended for public libraries. Martha Cornog, Philadelphia

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