Quorren’s #CBR4 Review #22 Bonk by Mary Roach
Bonk should’ve come with a soundtrack with such hits as “Afternoon Delight” by Starland Vocal Band, “Fantasy” by Ludacris and”The Bad Touch” by The Bloodhound Gang. Roach blends the scientific study of sex with her typical humorous irreverence.
Roach’s first book, and a good read at that, dealt with the study of death – specifically with cadavers. Roach reminds me of that friend (everyone has a friend like this) that will never let a dare go. While most of us would keep our curiosity to ourselves, lest we be labeled morbid weirdos, Roach goes right ahead and asks the the important questions about donating your body to science. She does the same in Bonk, jumping into the work of sex science.
You’re guaranteed to learn something new from this book. In fact, most of the time, you’ll be cocking your head to the side and going “huh” on a regular basis. There’s many interesting sex factoids you can dazzle your friends with in here. Like, the majority of the clitoris is actually internal. Think of it like an iceburg next time you get your in the vicinity of one. Or that Kinsey had a friend that said to him, “hey, you can sex studies in my attic, it won’t be weird at all!” The great grand niece of Napolean was an early sexologist; her dissatisfaction with her love life lead her to study the female anatomy. Also, a scientist once studied the effect of polyester on sexual arousal by putting rats in polyester pants. No mention if disco music was also piped into the lab.
One bummer from the book, and it’s not really the book’s fault, is that science really has no idea how the female sexuality works. One issue is that female sexuality just isn’t as simple to measure as male is. Another is that female sexuality wasn’t considered a main concern until recently, just in time for stricter review boards in the science field. Kinsey wouldn’t be able to film his friends going at it in the attic and still be able to say it was all for science in this day and age. Getting approval for any type of human testing is a chore, let alone approval for a couple to have sex in an MRI machine (although that did get to happen). And let’s face it, people are still squeamish about talking about sex openly. I even had reservations about writing this article. I think the world would be a better place if we took some advice from Salt N Pepa. Let’s talk about sex.
Cannonball Read IV 
I love Mary Roach – she seems like she would be the kind of person you would want to drink with, to me.
oh totally!
I picked this up with Stiff at the library last weekend and I’m excited to read both. I read Packing For Mars last year and really enjoyed it. My favorite was the chapter about pooping in space. She’s so cheeky, I love it.