*The French Best-seller*
'The book France won't stop talking about...undoubtedly a lovely Christmas gift for anyone with a keen interest in when and how the first vibrator was invented' - Telegraph
'OOH la la...We've come a long way from wrapping Lady Chatterley's Lover in brown paper' - London Evening Standard
'Warm, humane, inclusive, open-minded' - The Times
'A witty account that embraces everything from the earliest humans to the age of cybersex' - Guardian
'Funny, erudite, and devilishly sexy, The Story of Sex is a treat for the whole family (except, perhaps, younger children and muffled prudes)' - The Culture Trip
A history of sex, sexuality and human intimacy through the ages, from our primate pasts to our robotic futures
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-civilisation. 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 civilisations were far ahead of their time when it came to gender equality.
We learn how, through the centuries, religion, superstition and morality laws have shaped our view of what is and isn't palatable - with many cultures having come a long way from prohibiting masturbation (by way of a microscope) or considering homosexuality a 'perversion', while others continue to condemn promiscuous behaviour, particularly of women - and how technology and disease have redefined the limits of pleasure and reproduction.
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.
Philippe Brenot is a psychiatrist and the Director of Sexology at Paris Descartes University.
Laetitia Coryn is a graphic artist and illustrator.
