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    Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us
    Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us
    Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us
    Audiobook6 hours

    Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us

    Written by Jesse Bering

    Narrated by Jesse Bering

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook


    "As a sex writer, Jesse Bering is fearless—and peerless." —Dan Savage

    "You are a sexual deviant. A pervert, through and through." We may not want to admit it, but as the award-winning columnist and psychologist Jesse Bering reveals in Perv, there is a spectrum of perversion along which we all sit. Whether it's voyeurism, exhibitionism, or your run-of-the-mill foot fetish, we all possess a suite of sexual tastes as unique as our fingerprints—and as secret as the rest of the skeletons we've hidden in our closets.

    Combining cutting-edge studies and critiques of landmark research and conclusions drawn by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Kinsey, and the DSM-5, Bering pulls the curtain back on paraphilias, arguing that sexual deviance is commonplace. He explores the countless fetishists of the world, including people who wear a respectable suit during the day and handcuff a willing sexual partner at night. But he also takes us into the lives of "erotic outliers," such as a woman who falls madly in love with the Eiffel Tower; a pair of deeply affectionate identical twins; those with a particular penchant for statues; and others who are enamored of crevices not found on the human body.

    Moving from science to politics, psychology, history, and his own reflections on growing up gay in America, Bering confronts hypocrisy, prejudice, and harm as they relate to sexuality on a global scale. Humanizing so-called deviants while at the same time asking serious questions about the differences between thought and action, he presents us with a challenge: to understand that our best hope of solving some of the most troubling problems of our age hinges entirely on the amoral study of sex.

    As kinky as it is compassionate, illuminating, and engrossing, Perv is an irresistible and deeply personal book. "I can't promise you an orgasm at the end of our adventure," Bering writes, "but I can promise you a better understanding of why you get the ones you do."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateOct 8, 2013
    ISBN9781427235268
    Author

    Jesse Bering

    Jesse Bering, Ph.D. is a frequent contributor to Scientific American and Slate. His writing has also appeared in New York magazine, The Guardian, and The New Republic, among others, and has been featured by NPR, Playboy Radio, and more. The author of The Belief Instinct, Bering is the former Director of the Institute of Cognition and Culture at the Queen's University, Belfast, and began his career as a professor at the University of Arkansas. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

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    Reviews for Perv

    3.5/5

    76 ratings5 reviews

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    • 3/5
      A fascinating, frank, and amusing examination of social perspectives on sexual deviance. Awkward AF to read in public because folks on the bus frequently ask me what I'm reading. At times, it did drag though.I've seen some comparisons to Bonk by Mary Roach; however, I find a head-to-head comparison of these two books unavailing as Bonk is about performing the science of sex and this is about social perceptions of sexual deviance. Not the same topic at all really.
    • 3/5
      This was a fairly decent approach at the subject of sexual perversion. I learned some things and realized how incredibly boring I am (compared to some of the author's anecdotes).
    • 4/5
      A thoroughly interesting psychological, ethical and legal examination of various 'taboos' within the world of sex. For all that it's about 'The Sexual Deviant in All of Us' Bering manages to be matter-of-fact and non-judgmental and never panders to the reader while still being interesting, informative and even amusing (well, upbeat in any case). While it's probably not something I'd recommend for high school students, it does make for some very interesting discussions on how we as a culture decide what's normal and what's mentally ill behavior as well as the consequences of those decisions. I could see recommending this to college students and other adults who enjoy TED talks and the popular science authors such as Mary Roach.
    • 5/5
      A great great book focusing on the "deviant" side of sexuality. With no judgement behind the book itself. Which I love. The exploration of the "philias" and cultural norms and mores and more is too delicious to put down.
    • 3/5
      Somewhat overlapping with the much better What Do Women Want?, this is an evo-bio tinged argument that “perversion” is natural (in the sense that some people, especially men, are readily sexually aroused by things other than the prospect of intercourse, including things that many others find nonsexual and even disgustng) and that natural is not a synonym for good, so that we should be focusing on harm instead. If you already believe this, you’ll find little new here, and, although it’s couched as an argument for acceptance, it’s addressed to people who believe themselves sexually “normal” and repeatedly indicates that the reader is expected to find many of the described practices weird and troubling, including the harmless ones.