I was reading some reviews online for the book, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) and found them to be amusing to say the least.
I never read the book, but some of the reviews say the book says things like
[ul]
[li]Coca Cola is a good form of birth control[/li][li]Equates lesbianism with prostitution[/li][li]Encourages group masturbation among males[/li][li]Considers male homosexuals to be a perversion and choice[/li][/ul]
And the list goes on…
OK maybe I can understand some of this as the original book was written in 1969 and homosexuality still was included as a mental illness, but my question is has anyone here read this 1969 version
According to Wikipedia, David Reuben, the author made a new book in 1999 and I read it contains 95% new information, so it got me to wondering just how wrong was the first book?
So anyone here read this original version? And what did you think? Did you find anything else “odd” about it at the time or compared to now?
I never did read it. I looked in the Chicago Public Library but it only has the new 1999 version.
The first claim is a pretty much true; he said that Coca-Cola, used as a douche, is a reasonable form of contraception, though I believe he meant “to be used in a pinch.”
He didn’t equate lesbianism with prostitution; he claimed that prostitutes don’t get gratification with men and so usually get off with other women.
I have no idea where they get the group masturbation claim.
He did categorize homosexuality as a perversion. His treatment of transsexuals is even worse: something like “Q. Are these the men who have become women? A. No, these are men who have mutilated themselves.”
I read it 40 years ago but I don’t remember much about it. Just that he said all prostitutes hated men. “Playboy” was negative about a lot of it and said the catchy Q & A format had a lot to do with its popularity. They also questioned his credentials in researching sex
What I remember more are the radio commercials for the film Woody Allen made about it.
Quiz Show host “Name three books that will never be made into a movie”
Contestant “Webster’s Dictionary”
Quiz Show host “Correct”
Contestant “The Encyclopedia Britannica”
Quiz Show host “Correct. One more to go”
Contestant "David Reuben’s “Everything you wanted to know about sex but we’re afraid to ask”
Quiz show host. “Wrong, sorry,Woody Allen has made a movie out of it”.
Contestant (puzzled voice) “Woody Allen has made a movie out of it?”
School health class made it sound like a typical male experience. I don’t know if they still “teach” that or not, but I remember being shocked when I was first told that by a teacher and I was still a little hazy on exactly what masturbation was.
I was 14 when I read this book and the comments above hit home as I remember what the book meant to me. it had a dramatic affect on me for life. There was a part in the book I think near the back that stated it was impossible to have sex with a bent penis. I had a bent penis and this would set off years of lonliness and depression . I had to fill painful voids and play the avoidance game with gi yearsrls and than women. See I was above average looking good in sports but was p. Hmmainfully existing. I believed the book I procrastinated on seeing a doctor for 17 years . I gambled a lot that was my vice I even went to jail for 2 years. It was painful , one day I met a girl away from my area ,far enough away where she couldn’t embarass. Me by telling people I know what a failure I was and wouldn’t try anything with her. I made up a disease excuse and went to see a doctor. finally. I brought a picture of me down there as they asked. He examined me some and said I don’t think it will be a problem. I flew out to see my girlfriend a month later and bingo sex was a success, wow. All should be good but it wasn’t. The toll those years took on me didn’t just go away. I also have never worked a real job because before this I didn’t care. I needed I thought to do something special to make up for the time. I already
have the mind of a compulsive gambler and need to succeed big. Well I never found my niche or big success I have been on meds for 20 years and still nev er found my way. On a good note I’m now 57. Have a lovely wife and 2 great kids 9 and 14… I’m grateful for that but still wished I never read that book
I read the book years ago and remember plenty of incorrect statements. The one that I remember the most was the claim that plastic wrap could be used effectively in place of a condom. I remember years ago hurling the book against a wall at that line and thinking,“No way, this crap is going to lead to a lot of unexpected pregnancies.”
I went to high school with a guy that in the heat of passion used Saran Wrap as a condom so he could get it on with his girlfriend.
YMMV, but it can be done.
The thing was, when the book came out it was the first time the general public could really get its hands on actual sexual information without reading the Playboy Advisor regularly. While bits of it were wildly inaccurate and even dangerous, it did represent a giant leap forward in getting some sort of consolidated sex ed out there to the masses.
So it was a huge step forward overall, but people did suffer from the inaccuracies.
There were a lot of inaccuracies because Reuben basically just made things up. I recall an early section about penis size where he described how whenever men went into a public rest room they were always checking each other our to figure out to compare sizes and were always anxious about it (even the “winner,” who would have to prove himself all over again).
I was 17 at the time, but that seemed bizarre. I never saw any guys checking each other out; etiquette insisted you did not look at the other men.
I also remember the book Trying Hard to Hear You a few years later. It’s about finding out a couple of people are gay (a topic that had rarely been done in a YA novel at that time). The main character reads Reuben to find out about it, but another character (a surrogate for the author) makes it clear the Reuben was way off base on the subject.
For truly appalling 1960s sex advice you need go no further than a certain SF writer by the name of Robert Silverberg, otherwise known as Dr. LT Woodward
I was working in a bookstore at the time it came out and we couldn’t keep it on our book shelves because people kept stealing it. We eventually put it at a location we could keep an eye on it. Even there, women (especially) would slide the book into their purses and often would come by the desk and whisper, “Um, ah…I have the David Ruben book in my purse…um, could you just, ah…, charge me for it?”
