Title: Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex Author: Mary Roach Publisher: W.W. Norton Publish Date: 2008 Pages: 288 Genres:: Sociology, History, Humor, Non-Fiction Reviewer: B.I. Laureano

Rating:

Books that provide an in-depth historical look into the sexual science field and sexology movement in the U.S. (and the world) are sometimes a bit dry and biased. Mary Roach challenges this usual narrative by providing a well-researched, entertaining and revealing look into the history of sexual science and the current trends in her book Bonk.

If you want to know how your sex life may be connected to or influenced by pigs, electronics and hiccups, Mary Roach gives you the lowdown. Not only does she provide a sense of humor, which is kind of a prerequisite for writing, researching and reading about sex, but also she gives us footnotes. The scholar in me that misses grad school loved the footnotes. Some are scholarly, others are retorts, but it’s mostly filled with random information. It’s almost like watching Jeopardy where you stock up on information that is not always useless, but will make you a rock star at your next dinner party.

Her eloquent discussion of the contributions of Masters & Johnson and Kinsey are enlightening and ask those “obvious” questions some researchers and scientists forget to ask when doing such research. For example, what did happen to the artificial-coition machine Masters and Johnson used to film women’s internal physical responses to vaginal thrusting? Roach’s identity as a feminist (which she says often is asleep) is apparent as she includes several chapters focusing on female sexual response and orgasm, and even found a study focusing on feminists and their orgasms.  She also highlights women’s challenges and successes in the sexual science field, and the sexism within it, without overwhelming the reading with politically correct jargon.

Roach gets her hands dirty with this book, in more ways than one. She recruits her partner to engage in various sexual science experiments across the globe, palms dildos and clit pumps, attends sex workshops and spends hours in medical research libraries reading esoteric articles about animal mating practices and their connection to human sexual response. She even squeezes a freshly inserted penile implant on a patient to see how “real” his erection feels post-surgery.

I’ve got a Master’s degree in human sexuality, but I too learned some very interesting information from Roach’s Bonk. For instance, the cover art, I love it! Who would have thought ladybugs do it doggy style? Even if it is a Photoshopped picture, it gave me a good laugh. I learned that Maria Bonaparte surgically removed her clitoris twice in hopes of experiencing more pleasure during intercourse, and that there was more nonsexual health-related benefits to masturbation than I had thought. Finally, I was extremely pleased to see a section dedicated solely to people with disabilities and their sexual experiences. Talk about a group that is rarely discussed and often fetishized in discussions of sexuality, unless of course they are being talked about as research subjects, which is the best way to pathologize someone’s sexual pleasure.

In the end, all our parts matter. Roach gives us a vast look into and tools to continue to investigate sexuality and sexual science. She reminds us that sex is fun, intriguing and curious, and for some, a career. Roach has written a book that makes me jealous, taught me something and reminded me to rename my bedroom the “vaginal vestibule”; and for that, she deserves a high-five.