The Story of Sex
From Apes to Robots
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
Sex is everywhere, yet how many of us truly understand it?
Our attitudes to sex and sexuality are forever in flux. Driven by pleasure, power, revenge, a desire for children or simply because it isn't allowed, humans have had sex on the brain since pre-civilization. But what do we really know? In The Story of Sex, we discover the truth, including: what eroticism really is, when the first couple was established, what phallic festivals were all about, when chastity belts
were used and how some ancient civilizations were far ahead of their time when it came to gender equality.
The first graphic novel of its kind, The Story of Sex brilliantly and humorously uncovers the most fascinating details of our sexual ancestry, and foretells a future of virtual gratification.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sexologist and psychiatrist Brenot partners with comics artist Coryn for a literally graphic history of sexuality, love, and gender politics that plays far too loosely with the truth. Coryn's simple and evocative cartooning recalls Larry Gonick's Cartoon History series, and her lively style invites the reader to more readily absorb Brenot's academic yet passionate verbosity. Brenot's narrative framework, in which fictionalized events are introduced alongside real history to explain the evolution of human cultures, is hindered by a number of missteps; not least of these is the lack of a bibliography and the spreading of suspect apocrypha, and his insertion of original characters into historical events is baffling as well. Brenot spares time to mention the myth of Hermaphroditus, he ignores the presence of transgender people in history, offering only a brief definition of gender identity (and one shockingly inaccurate statistic about it) at the very end. Although Coryn's work is undeniably entertaining, Brenot's strange fumbles considerably reduce the merit of the book.
