Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) is a book (1969, updated 1999) by U.S. physician Dr. David Reuben. It was one of the first sex manuals that entered mainstream culture in the 1960s and had a profound effect on sex education and in liberalizing attitudes towards sex. Reuben's views of homosexuality are that it is disease and a striving for the impossible. Reuben states that almost all male homosexual encounters are entirely impersonal and that lesbians and prostitutes are one and the same.
The book was loosely adapted by Woody Allen into a comedy film of the same name, translated into 54 languages and sold in 52 countries. It ultimately reached more than 150 million readers.
Although considered revolutionary in its day, the book contains many outdated notions and outmodeled methods. This includes some very pronounced strict Freudian analysis by Reuben and addressing "problems" like frigidity in women.
Trivia
In an episode of the first season of the television series The Wonder Years, this book is featured and plays an integral part in the episode's plot.
