"Straight" sex has let its practitioners down. Not only is there often a gap between erotic expectations and sexual realities (as the popularity of "agony aunts" and sex therapists indicates), but now, with the advent of AIDS, what used to be termed normal, healthy sex is fast be g positively dangerous, if not deadly. For many people sexual activity has a much broader definition than it used to: it could be dressing up, bondage, S/M, piercing, any kind of exhibitionism or fetishism. This illustrated book (80 black and white duotone photographs) is an exploration of "the Scene": the social forum in which all these pursuits and many others flourish. Each of Ted Polhemus's chapters examines a different aspect of "the Scene": The New Sexuality (or Beyond Promiscuity), Kinky Gear (Fetishism and Fashion), Sex and Power (sub/dom), Pleasure and Pain (S & M), Gender (cross-dressing and transexuality) and Sexual Healing (sexual addiction and the positive, "spiritual" possibilities of erotic ritual). Each chapter is interleaved with case histories: the stories, and photographs, of couples whose sexuality illustrates and elucidates the themes under discussion. Housk Randall's photographs of these couples: gay and straight, young and old, black and white, are powerful, explicit and intimate portraits of sex with love, sex with imagination, and sex with a sense of humour.

Rituals of Love

Polhemus, Ted

Randall, Housk

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Picador

Throughout history, people have decorated and altered the appearance of their bodies in different ways. Body piercing is one of the oldest and most interesting forms of body modification, yet the reasons for piercing the body are as diverse as the cultures they come from. Body piercing was often identified with royalty and portrayed courage and virility. Egyptian Pharaohs pierced their navals as a rite of passage; Roman soldiers pierced their nipples to show their manhood; and both sexes of Victorian royalty chose to pierce their nipples and genitals. Our culture has brought to the mainstream some of these ancient practices, the difference being that body piercing is today a form of self-expression, an exciting means of transforming the body in startling and unexpected ways. Transfigurations is a gripping journey through a rich seam of sexual expression, with superb black and white photography, both graphic and sensitive, accompanied by illuminating text.

Piercing: A Modern Anthology

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Salamander Books Ltd.

Throughout history, mankind has adorned and customized the body. Over 100 photographs by "Erotic Oscar" winner Housk Randall touch all the bases--body shaping and painting, tattooing, scarification, piercing, and masks--in graphic and dramatic style, while the text by social antropologist Ted Polhemus explores the origins and development of these phenomena. 104 photos.

The Customized Body

Arts & Photography

Photography & Video

Serpent's Tail

A photographic look at today's cutting edge sexual practices-s/m, fetish, piercing, surgical modification etc. The text by Mark Ramsden locates these practices in a wider cult of the celebration of the body and beauty and traces their history in the writings of De Sade, Sacher-Masoch, Kraft-Ebing, and Freud.Winner of the Erotic Oscar Award, Housk Randall is a Mexican-American who lives in London. His previous books include Rituals of Love, Bizarre Rubber, Piercing: A Modern Anthology, and The Customized Body, also published by Serpent's Tail.

Radical Desire

Ramsden, Mark

Individual Artists

Weirdest book of the month must be The Customized Body crammed with photographs of people whose bodies have been variously tattooed, pierced and otherwise decoratively mutilated. Keep it on your coffee table for when there’s an awkward lull in the conversation.—Cosmopolitan "This comprehensive book is a grand tour of the world of body adornment, from the ephemera of hairstyles and clothing to the more permanent statements made by cosmetic surgery and tattooing."—Skin Two Ted Polhemus is an American social anthropologist who lives in London. His books include Style Surfing: What to Wear in the Third Millennium and Fashion and Anti-Fashion.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Randall, Housk. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Randall, Housk

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Randall, Housk. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Rituals of Love

Piercing: A Modern Anthology

The Customized Body

Radical Desire

The Customized Body