If you enjoy Mary Roach's frank curiosity and exploration of different topics, you'll likely also enjoy this book. Told with a sense of humor but also packed with information and analysis, this book explains not only the beginnings of sex toys to their current embodiment, but also delves into the history of the societal attitudes towards them, as well as towards female sexuality. Hallie Lieberman, who holds the world's first PhD in the history of sex toys, has an engaging writing style that draws you in to a topic that you may have anticipated would be amusing/interesting and explores a world you probably never knew existed. Lieberman in particular looks at how these devices went from being advertised as medical equipment to not being advertised at all (and if so, not as sex toys). Her explanations of the history of these devices is an explanation of our society's attitudes about sex and sexuality, and feminism, not just the development of materials and design (and marketing). I was surprised by how much I was learning when I was reading this and honestly, I was dismayed by the fact that several states had laws on the books until pretty recently that could get you in trouble if you bought a sex toy. I honestly never thought much about that (maybe it's because I lived in an urban area and kind of took it for granted that people could buy toys) and I also never considered that there was as much history and societal history tied up with them.
You may feel that if you pick up this book and read it, you'd want to read it in the privacy of your own home ---- but once you start turning the pages, you may think about reading it in public, just to see what kind of conversation you'd generate (and what kinds of things you could tell people about what you're learning). Definitely an interesting book!
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