A historical account of masturbation as a moral issue and cultural taboo.

Solitary Pleasures is the first anthology to address masturbation, exploring both the history and artistic representation of autoeroticism. Masturbation today enjoys a highly equivocal and contradictory status among cultural discourses relating to sexuality. On the one hand, it is the subject of much popular treatment, especially in sexual self-help books, advice columns, and in pop culture--for example, Madonna's "Like a Virgin" performance, a recent Roseanne episode, and David Russell's movie Spanking the Monkey. On the other hand, masturbation is still a taboo subject for most people in everyday conversation. Perhaps more surprising, it has been largely dismissed by academics as a trivial, humorous topic and the "history of a delusion." It was not until the eighteenth century that "onanism" was portrayed as a morbid act of epidemic proportions that produced pox, hair loss, blindness, insanity, impotence and a horrible. Its prevention and treatment warranted diverse and often cruel measures: surveillance, diets, drugs, corsets, electrical alarms, urethral cauterization, clitoridectomy, and labial sewing. This literature's apocalyptic warnings about the personal and social morbidity of "pollution-by-the-hand" are largely unknown to most people today, but the ghostly echoes of these admonitions still inform and preserve the present taboo of the subject. Why did this apparently innocuous activity become so overpoweringly stigmatized? Why was the eradication of masturbation one of the most important goals of 19th century public hygiene? Why, even after the "sexual revolution," is masturbation still shrouded in shame?

The first written account by a contemporary Welsh initiate of the ancient tradition of sex magic as practiced by generations of Celtic druids. • Reveals authentic, accurate, and fully illustrated instructions. • Provides detailed instructions for crafting, purifying, and energizing all the necessary ritual tools. Sex magic is an important component of Celtic spiritual practice. Unlike other ritual practices that look to intermediaries or deities to execute the participants' wishes, druids believe that individuals can directly influence exterior reality by focusing their own internal sexual energy. Sex magic potentizes and projects this energy so that it reaches its full power, allowing the participants to liberate their consciousness from everyday awareness and influence reality at will. Written by a practicing druid with more than forty years in the tradition, Celtic Sex Magic explains the fundamental principles involved in channeling the vast amounts of energy generated during orgasm for the purpose of projecting spells and elevating consciousness. The secrets of this tradition have been passed down orally for generations and are revealed here in print for the first time. This workbook contains authentic, accurate, and fully illustrated instructions for a wide range of sex magic rituals that may be used by couples, groups, and solitary practitioners. The author also provides detailed instructions for crafting the necessary ritual tools and brewing the potions used in these rituals. Celtic Sex Magic offers the keys to unlocking and directing the enormous potential of sexual energy.

Part One: The Basics -- In Praise of Solo Sex; How Much is Too Much?; An Evening Alone with You; Creative Touching; Toys and Other Self-Love Objects. Part Two: Advanced Practices -- Sex Secrets and Solo Sex; Symbolic Exhibitionism. Part Three: Ultimate Orgasm and the Mind -- Fantasy is More Real; Ultimate Fantasies; How to Have Multiple Orgasms; Heightening Hunger Through Abstinence; Psychic Orgasm: The Ultimate High; Epilogue.

This is not a comprehensive study of every sexual quirk, kink and ritual across all cultures throughout time, as that would entail writing an encyclopaedia. Rather, this is a drop in the ocean, a paddle in the shallow end of sex history, but I hope you will get pleasantly wet nonetheless. The act of sex has not changed since people first worked out what went where, but the ways in which society dictates how sex is culturally understood and performed have varied significantly through the ages. Humans are the only creatures that stigmatise particular sexual practices, and sex remains a deeply divisive issue around the world. Attitudes will change and grow – hopefully for the better – but sex will never be free of stigma or shame unless we acknowledge where it has come from. Based on the popular research project Whores of Yore, and written with her distinctive humour and wit, A Curious History of Sex draws upon Dr Kate Lister’s extensive knowledge of sex history. From medieval impotence tests to twentieth-century testicle thefts, from the erotic frescoes of Pompeii, to modern-day sex doll brothels, Kate unashamedly roots around in the pants of history, debunking myths, challenging stereotypes and generally getting her hands dirty. This fascinating book is peppered with surprising and informative historical slang, and illustrated with eye-opening, toe-curling and meticulously sourced images from the past. You will laugh, you will wince and you will wonder just how much has actually changed.

Sex is cheap. Coupled sexual activity has become more widely available than ever. Cheap sex has been made possible by two technologies that have little to do with each other - the Pill and high-quality pornography - and its distribution made more efficient by a third technological innovation, online dating. Together, they drive down the cost of real sex, and in turn slow the development of love, make fidelity more challenging, sexual malleability more common, and have even taken a toll on men's marriageability. Cheap Sex takes readers on an extended tour inside the American mating market, and highlights key patterns that characterize young adults' experience today, including the timing of first sex in relationships, overlapping partners, frustrating returns on their relational investments, and a failure to link future goals like marriage with how they navigate their current relationships. Drawing upon several large nationally-representative surveys, in-person interviews with 100 men and women, and the assertions of scholars ranging from evolutionary psychologists to gender theorists, what emerges is a story about social change, technological breakthroughs, and unintended consequences. Men and women have not fundamentally changed, but their unions have. No longer playing a supporting role in relationships, sex has emerged as a central priority in relationship development and continuation. But unravel the layers, and it is obvious that the emergence of "industrial sex" is far more a reflection of men's interests than women's.

Solitary Sex Magick is an occult manual that teaches the magical practice of sex magick. This manual has been specially written and prepared for the passionate solitary practitioner. Since magical instructions are key to learning, this manual has been modified into an easy-to-read format. Sex magick is a pure magical science and art, and he/she who learns its secrets shall discover real magical power. Learn the foundation of the Craft of Magick and harness the forces of nature through solitary sex. Why practice sex magick in solitary? This is because it is actually hard to find someone to do it with. Take note that you cannot just do it with anybody. You have to understand that in the real practice of sex magick, there will be a merging of energies, as well as a merging of the souls. If you end up practicing this craft with someone who has an impure soul, then you will only be corrupted, and the magic will not work. Sex magick in the purest kind of magick as it originates from a raw instinct of man. As such, you know that the energy that you harness is pure and of divine source. What is more, the energy is not just any other energy, but the energy of life. Humanity would not have continued to exist if the people did not engage in sex. Sex is life and life is energy -- and you can harness and manipulate this energy in a magical way. Solitary Sex Magick is the key that will open wide a door of magick for you, and this door shall lead to many paths and magical experiences for you to explore and enjoy. After all, the practice of magic ought to be experienced. It is only through personal experience that you can fully understand the meaning of a technique or practice. The same is true in the practice of sex magic (just like any other magical practices) -- you ought to experience it yourself to realize its power. Do not worry; the practice of solitary sex magic is highly pleasurable, so you would not have any problems with it. In fact, you will even be comforted and brought to great heights of pleasures and ecstasy. You will literally feel your body vibrating as it becomes filled with lots of magical energy, similar to the so-called full-body orgasm -- only stronger and purer. Your body shall throb like a heartbeat as it bathes in divine energy. Are you ready to learn the secrets of this art form? If yes, then let me now welcome you into the divine mysteries of sex, where you shall discover raw and potent power that you can harness for the realization of your will. Always with love and with light, blessed be!