Buzz
ISBN-13: 978-1-68177-543-2
Writer: Hallie Lieberman
Title: Buzz
Subtitle: The Stimulating History of the Sex Toy
Language: English
First Edition
Place of Publication: New York, N.Y.
Publisher: Pegasus Books, Ltd
Year of Publication: 7/11/2017
Format: 152x235mm
Pages: viii+359
Illustrations: 23 black-and white/colour;; writer's b&w photo on the inside back flap by Eric Schatzberg
Jacket design: Faceout Studio, Jeff Miller
Interior design: Sabrina Plomitallo-Gonsález
Binding: boards in duotone dust cover designed by Jeff Miller
Weight: 565 gr.
Original price USD 26.95 / CAD 35.95
Current Price: £18.19 (book £12.54, sales tax £1.03, shipping £4.62)
Supplier: WeBuyBooks
Order Number: AbeBooks Purchase Order No.: 667973772
Order Date: 5/1/2023
Order Shipped: 5/10/2023
Order Received: 5/31/2023
Entry Number: 2023021
Entry Date: 31st May 2023
BOOK DESCRIPTION
In the vein of Mary Roach's Bonk, a brilliant microhistory of the sex toy that ultimately tells the story of our changing sexual mores and evolving cultural values.
Once only whispered about in clandestine corners, vibrators have become just another accessory for the suburban soccer mom. But how did these once-taboo toys become so socially acceptable? The journey of the devices to the cultural mainstream is a surprisingly stimulating one.
In Buzz, Hallie Lieberman traces the tale from lubricant in Ancient Greece to the very first condom in 1560 to advertisements touting devices as medical equipment in 19th-century magazines. She looks in particular from the period of major change from the 1950s through the present, when sex toys evolved from symbols of female emancipation to tools in the fight against HIV/AIDS to consumerist marital aids to today's mainstays of pop culture. The story is populated with a cast of vivid and fascinating characters including Dell Williams, founder of the first feminist sex toy store; Betty Dodson, whose workshops helped 1960s women discover vibrators; and Gosnell Duncan, a paraplegic engineer who invented the silicone dildo. And these personal dramas are all set against a backdrop of changing American attitudes toward sexuality, feminism, LGBTQ issues, and more.
Both educational and titillating, Buzz will make readers think quite differently about those secret items hiding in bedside drawers across the nation.
