This Is How We Do It | Bookforum

Rereading a British novelist’s ancient sex manual

SEX IS AS OLD AS DIRT, yet every generation claims it anew in the words and tropes of its time. Dr. Alex Comfort’s The Joy of Sex is very much a product of 1972—its subtitle, “A Cordon Bleu Guide to Lovemaking,” is pure ’70s, nodding to the era’s obsession with French food and hippie tenderness. Cracking the spine, you can almost hear the fondue burble in the background; you can almost smell the weed and patchouli. 

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