- Culture
- 06 Feb 04
News and views from around the world, stimulation for eyes and ears, Sexton's Miscellany plus this week's top sex tip...
Warning! Romance can seriously affect your health.
Researchers at the University of London have found that men who get married are more likely to suffer mental illness than those who live with their partners. The opposite is true for women; co-habiting women suffer more stress than their married counterparts. Recently published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study also found that single men are the most likely to suffer from depression, whereas single women suffer the least. Make of that what you will!
Stimulation for Eyes and Ears
Books
Want to know everything about sex? Check out Suzi Godson’s The Sex Book (Cassell Illustrated/ E16.99 in Easons). This exhaustive book covers everything from kissing to anal sex, from pregnancy to sex for the elderly, sex changes, swingers, games, contraception and even dyeing your pubes. Part How To Guide, part encyclopaedia, the authors have also included interviews with the public, as well as cultural, religious and philosophical references, trivia – and tips from the sex industry. Buy from good bookshops or on-line at www.amazon.co.uk
Movies
One of my all-time favourites, The Pillow Book, is now available on DVD. Starring Ewan McGregor and Vivian Wu, The Pillow Book tells the story of Nagiko, a Japanese model in Hong Kong whose obsessions are sexual pleasure, calligraphy and revenge. The Pillow Book of the title is a reference to the 1,000 year-old diary of Sei Shonagon, a courtesan. Nagiko, inspired by the diary, decides to start her own pillow book, written on the bodies of her lovers. This 1997 release by Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover) features brilliant erotic scenes and praises the delights of the flesh and literature. The less cerebral may be interested to know that it features a great deal of nudity, including a full frontal of Ewan!
Sexton’s Miscellany.
Some interesting sexual facts and legends.
In ancient Irish legend, amorous girls were said to have invaded graveyards in search of corpses buried for nine days. When they found one, they would cut off a strip of skin from the head to the foot. This was tied around the arm or leg of their sleeping man and removed before he awoke. This had to be done every night to ensure his passion stayed ardent. All I can say is thank goodness for lingerie!
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Men, you gotta love them! The male desire to please their women is as old as sex itself. The Malays of Borneo would perforate their penises with brass wire spread out at the ends and Bataks of Sumatra would insert stones into wounds made in their members to keep the missus satisfied. Before you think how primitive they must have been, take a squizz at your local piercing parlour…
The record for the world’s most promiscuous woman is held by Madame de Saint-Ange, who claimed to have had between ten and twelve thousand lovers. The record for the world’s most promiscuous man is a little more difficult to judge, given the male tendency to brag. Don Juan claimed to have bedded 2,065 women. My Secret Life by Walter, the anonymous Victorian diarist claimed to have made at least 1,200 conquests. However, Conchobar, a twelfth century King of Ulster, is said to have had sex with all the marriageable girls in the kingdom. Talk about hands-on government!
Source: The Illustrated Book of Sexual Records, G.L. Simons
The Deviant’s Dictionary
Agalmatophilia: Attraction to statues or mannequins
Emetophilia: Arousal from vomit or vomiting
Oculolinctus: The act of licking a partner’s eyeball
Sacofricosis: The practise of cutting a hole in a front pants pocket in order to masturbate in public with less risk of detection
Siderodromophilia: Arousal from riding in trains.
Music
This week, it’s gotta be Kelis whose ‘Milkshake’ is all over the airwaves. Nasty – and very sexy.
This Week’s Top Sex Tip
Oral sex is always yummy, but try spicing it up by adding food and drink to the sensation. Cold stuff is particularly good – you can either take it into the mouth and ‘apply’ as you go to work or ladle it onto whatever you intend to lick or suck – and take it from there! Try ice cream, ice cubes or champagne. But don’t put anything too cold in contact with the skin (or the tongue) – ice cubes have been known to stick! You don’t want frostbite on the genitalia, after all.