What do you think?
Rate this book
Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex
A classic exploration of niche kinks, sexual misfits and DIY fetish, now revised and updated!
Author Katharine Gates, curator of the year-long exhibition KINK at Museum of Sex, has added a new introduction, plus chapters on Cannibal Play ("Eat Me!"), Suburbs of the Foot Fetish, and more. The expanded book also includes a handy "kinkmap" - your handy guide to the erotic imagination. Versions of this map have been used in college Psychology textbooks.
Often imitated but never equaled, this book is required reading for those who understand rule #34 of the If it's out there, someone is getting off on it.
Author Katharine Gates, curator of the year-long exhibition KINK at Museum of Sex, has added a new introduction, plus chapters on Cannibal Play ("Eat Me!"), Suburbs of the Foot Fetish, and more. The expanded book also includes a handy "kinkmap" - your handy guide to the erotic imagination. Versions of this map have been used in college Psychology textbooks.
Often imitated but never equaled, this book is required reading for those who understand rule #34 of the If it's out there, someone is getting off on it.
- GenresSexualityNonfiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
3 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 10, 2009
my inner voyeur really enjoyed this...come on...we're all a little curious when it comes to what gives people their kicks...What a tangled web we weave.
September 17, 2013
This book is NUTS!
It's also way smarter and more political than I thought it would have been, when I bought it online at four in the morning for no good reason. Especially interesting is the chapter on Giantess fetishes, which features Gee Vaucher style collages of giant women stomping whole cities and (!) on-set photos of women destroying scale miniatures like Sex Godzilla. But it's not all laughs!! Ask the man who makes it:
"It would be convenient for me to say that I do this work because I'm a feminist, that I want the woman to be big and important and I'm giving a powerful role model to the world. But that's bullshit. This is not about women. This is about men and their fantasies."
Says one guy about his body inflation fetish:
"Ordinary erotica does very little for me. I've always believed that if you're going to fantasize about something, you shouldn't waste your imagination trying to make it realistic. If you want realism, you should be out doing it, not sitting there dreaming about it."
Weird! I never thought about it that way!
Some of these people are misogynists with few outlets left and others are normal people who watched "Alice in Wonderland" or "Willie Wonka" at a formative age and made some synaptic connection that can never be unmade. This book is, on the whole, insightful, sympathetic, and honest. Sometimes the logic of these people is so earnest and straight-forward that you wonder, Wait, should I be into balloons? The way some women identify as "Carrie" or "Samantha" I read this and thought, "Probably mess fetish." Come on:
"It's rare to find people with fetishes who are willing to laugh about what they're doing, because no matter how funny their sexual practice may be (and that's both funny "haha: and funny "peculiar") it's a deeply serious act. They may find it fun, but they certainly don't want to risk the possibility of being laughed at. Splosh! on the other hand, is filled to overflowing with bad puns, dumb jokes, and the stupidest kind of lowest-common denominator merriment."
Lastly, this book is FUN! There are lots of pictures and lists and maps and a list of things retrieved from buttholes (apparently glass is retrieved by putting plaster up the butt to minimize the risk of breakage).
It's formatted in a really easy to read way and is a good combination of psychology, sexology, and what-the-fuck-ever. Highly recommended!
It's also way smarter and more political than I thought it would have been, when I bought it online at four in the morning for no good reason. Especially interesting is the chapter on Giantess fetishes, which features Gee Vaucher style collages of giant women stomping whole cities and (!) on-set photos of women destroying scale miniatures like Sex Godzilla. But it's not all laughs!! Ask the man who makes it:
"It would be convenient for me to say that I do this work because I'm a feminist, that I want the woman to be big and important and I'm giving a powerful role model to the world. But that's bullshit. This is not about women. This is about men and their fantasies."
Says one guy about his body inflation fetish:
"Ordinary erotica does very little for me. I've always believed that if you're going to fantasize about something, you shouldn't waste your imagination trying to make it realistic. If you want realism, you should be out doing it, not sitting there dreaming about it."
Weird! I never thought about it that way!
Some of these people are misogynists with few outlets left and others are normal people who watched "Alice in Wonderland" or "Willie Wonka" at a formative age and made some synaptic connection that can never be unmade. This book is, on the whole, insightful, sympathetic, and honest. Sometimes the logic of these people is so earnest and straight-forward that you wonder, Wait, should I be into balloons? The way some women identify as "Carrie" or "Samantha" I read this and thought, "Probably mess fetish." Come on:
"It's rare to find people with fetishes who are willing to laugh about what they're doing, because no matter how funny their sexual practice may be (and that's both funny "haha: and funny "peculiar") it's a deeply serious act. They may find it fun, but they certainly don't want to risk the possibility of being laughed at. Splosh! on the other hand, is filled to overflowing with bad puns, dumb jokes, and the stupidest kind of lowest-common denominator merriment."
Lastly, this book is FUN! There are lots of pictures and lists and maps and a list of things retrieved from buttholes (apparently glass is retrieved by putting plaster up the butt to minimize the risk of breakage).
It's formatted in a really easy to read way and is a good combination of psychology, sexology, and what-the-fuck-ever. Highly recommended!
January 10, 2019
This was a surprise. Definitely a 5.
I picked this up expecting the usual prurience, and I was astounded by the range and breadth of human desire. It really is amazing -- I came away happy for those who have found that extraordinary thing they need.
Gates does a superb job of telling the stories of her subjects and their 'deviant desires.' For the first time -- in my experience anyway -- someone has given perspective and humanity to these kinks and the people who practice them. The thought might occur to you that we all have our kinks -- wherever that may. I learned a bit about acceptance and tolerance.
Worth it.
October 28, 2021
This book was good as far as it provides a detailed description of the following sexual fetishes; Pony Play (BDSM play with leather bridles and ponytails), Balloon Fetish (a.k.a "The Looner"), Body Inflation Fantasies: To Dream the Impossible Dream, Giantess Fans: Attack of the 50-Foot Fantasy, Crush Freaks, Messy Fun (sex play with liquid mediums such as Jello and paint), Fat Admiration and Feeders, Romain Slocombe: Fetishes of Human Broken Dolls, Sexy Fandoms: Slash Fiction, Furverts, and Robot Fetishes. It's a great book for individuals interested in expanding their understanding of these forms of sexual perversions.
February 26, 2018
Completely fascinating! Human sexuality is a vast and wonderful thing!
June 19, 2011
There are a lot of freaks in the world! I guess if you are into it and are lucky enough to find another weirdo who likes balloons or baked beans to be present during sex, more power to you. I guess I'm a pretty boring traditional girl. I consider a new pair of lacy panties racy stuff. By far the pony play was the most amusing. These people put a ton of time and effort into their kinky business.
December 31, 2011
I thought at first this was going to be played for titillation, a let's laugh at the weird pervs kind of book. Gates has written a mostly unbiased account of various people and their fetishes. It's a fascinating psychological study of human sexuality in all forms and I found it very interesting. Most of the people featured seem more well adjusted than 'normal' folk.
January 21, 2008
If your coffee table boasts both this book and Dancing With Cats, everyone cool will want to be your friend.
January 15, 2012
If I wanted to read a book exclusively focusing on ponies I would've got a book on ponies, dammit.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews