Review: Sex Is Fun by Kidder Kaper

Miscellaneous, Product Reviews

Thanks to the poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar, the mixing of Neo Citron and Nyquil often creates, having a cold equals laying in bed with a minimal amount of work getting done. Reading also doesn’t happen, my combined lack of an attention span and being sick makes me unable to follow along. It’s often around page 20 that I put a book down and opt to watch some 80’s movie in an attempt to feel better (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Breakfast Club make everything okay. John Hughes, thank you for that).

With my recent cold I found myself tucked under covers totally enamored with my newest book addition, Sex Is Fun by Kidder Kaper. From the get go I was totally absorbed. It could have been the fact that it was in graphic novel form, likening itself to a very sexually explicit Archie’s Comic. Maybe it was because it was actually interesting and fun. Either way, I couldn’t put it down. As someone that’s read over 25 books /resources on the topic of sex ed and sexuality, having a fairly similar experience with almost all of them, that’s saying something.

The Good

When it came to things I liked about the book there were many;

Many books on the topic of sex and sexuality ~~unless they’re dedicated to sex toys~~ don’t offer any information on the sex toys, and when they do, the suggestions they provide for toys are often ones that make me cringe. I’m sorry but the initial suggestion of using butt toys with flared bases is almost a mute point when the product your suggesting is made of porous materials and full of harsh chemicals. To my wonderful surprise the products they recommended were ones I’d willing put on my own wish list. Sadly they didn’t specifically mention any names, instead opting to provide images any good reviewer would be able to recognize, with the Njoy Pure Wand and Aneros prostate stimulator being just two of them (pictured above right).

Taking it one step further, they suggest asking vendors about phthalates and using the smell of a toy to determine if it’s body safe or not. As if that wasn’t enough, they recommend avoiding lubes with high consistencies of glycerine or ones that are petroleum based for fear of a potential yeast infection or negative side effects. As a reviewer who’s always preaching this, reading that damn near made my day.

I probably should have mentioned this first since it’s a large part of what kept me reading, but I figured since this is a blog that focuses on sex toys, the previous info was a tad more pertinent. There’s no other way to say it than the book is engaging in a way many others aren’t. It makes a real effort to offer advice and suggestions in a format that’s far from the standard ‘textbook’ approach; the writing style is real, witty, relevant, entertaining, open minded, gender inclusive (we’ll get to that later) informative without sounding preachy, easy to follow and yes, cheesy as it sounds, fun. Which is good cause if it wasn’t it would just be false advertising in my world.

The book, being more of a whimsical and sexy black and white graphic novel than a tried and true ‘sex manual’, is completely illustrated providing the reader with a full 212 pages worth of unbelievably entertaining and fantastic imagery. If I didn’t know better I’d think it was the work of Alex Kotkin, the graphic/erotic artist behind one of my fave sex toys sites, instead it’s the work of Josh Lynch, an amazing illustrator in his own right.

On that note, although the book is 212 pages in length, it’s a very fast read. In total it probably took me about 3 hours to get through it, however most of that time was spent flipping back and forth to go through the pictures since the actual writing is minimal.

As I mentioned above it’s gender inclusive, and by that I mean this isn’t a book that assumes every relationship is a straight monogamous one, i.e. guy on girl in a committed relationship. Instead, the images depicted are of men on men, men on women and women on women, and while there is a lacking of trans folk, the body types vary as do the basic appearances of the characters; they aren’t perfectly toned or proportioned, and the ever annoying stereo types of gay/lesbian representation and gender roles is also fairly ignored (girl on girl fisting and girl on boy strap-on play for the win!).

The book includes the use of the word partner with an (s) on the end – as in partner(s) – for those who aren’t in monogamous relationships, instead opting to engage in play with more than one person at a time. While it may seem unimportant, I think it’s a very good indication of how relevant it is for a society where many people are choosing to explore before deciding to commit. More than that, it reinforces the idea that women and men should claim their sexuality without guilt or shame, minimizing ‘slut shaming‘ in the process.

If you’re someone that a.) needs a quick run down of the basics as they relate to the anatomy or sex, b.) struggles when it comes to opening up about sex or their sexuality, c.) is still figuring out where they stand on certain sex acts or ideas, d.) wants to help learn about their partner and/or e.) potentially re-ignite a spark that may have been lost somewhere along the way, there are interactive workbook style pages at the end of each chapter to help you along. Think of it as the easiest and most fun homework you’ve ever done. Don’t worry, there isn’t any math or geometry involved. If there was, I’d fail.

Finally, and possibly the most awesome, it covers damn near everything a ‘sexual how to’ should; from buying sex toys to talking dirty, taking pictures for your partner to massage, finding and stimulating the g-spot to doing it in the shower, performing oral to giving a great hand-job, butt sex to positions worth trying, BDSM and sensation play to all out role playing… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The Bad

To be honest, I don’t really have anything bad to say about the book. Sure, it’s on the ‘basic’ side, but it’s far more interesting and to the point than many other books I’ve read, most of which often take pages upon pages to make their point. If you took out the graphic portion of the book it would probably be more of a ‘pocket style’ mini edition… but it’s the images that make this so fantastic, so yes, I’ll take the size and length with no complaint.

Other than that, I’d love to have seen it in a full color with glossy pages. I’ve been debating buying some pencil crayons and coloring it myself, who knows it might be great at getting the creative juices flowing. Pun intended.

Final Verdict

If you’re tired of traditional “how to” books, you know, the ones with textbook style chapters, heavy diagrams that only a med student would understand and yawn inducing rhetoric, you definitely need to pick up a copy of Sex Is Fun. Not only will you likely find yourself laughing out loud at the images and stories while being drawn in page after page, you’ll probably also learn something along the way. And that’s how it should be.

For more info or to get your hands on the book make sure to head on over to Vibrators.com, and while you’re there, make sure to check out their sale pagefor some great deals on badass sex toys. You even get free shipping too!

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