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The Joy of Sex was a ground-breaking illustrated sex manual by Alex Comfort, M.D., Ph.D., first published in 1972. It was the first illustrated, serious such manual to gain wide distribution—at least in modern America. (One might argue, for instance, that the Kama Sutra provided somewhat similar information over 1,000 years before.) Earlier works, such as the 1966 Human Sexual Response by William H. Masters & Virginia E. Johnson, were more circumspect and clinical. Conversely, The Joy of Sex is rather circumspect and clinical in comparison to The Guide to Getting it On, published 20 years later.

The Joy of Sex spent eleven weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list and more than 70 weeks in the top five (1972–1974).

The original intention was to use the same mainstream approach as such books as The Joy of Cooking, hence section titles include "starters" and "main courses". The book features sexual practices such as oral sex and various sex positions as well as bringing "farther out" practices as sexual bondage and swinging to the attention of the general public. (read more . . . )