Have plans Sunday night? Cancel them. If you live in New York or Seattle, you’ve got better things to do. New York is hosting a Tour of the Clitoris with Rebecca Chalker, author of the amazing book, The Clitoral Truth. Never has a book so profoundly changed the way I thought about my body. It’s an incredible read and I can’t wait to learn from the author herself.

Seattle has the fantastic Midori in their store on Sunday teaching an Aural Seduction workshop. I saw this workshop a couple of years ago when I first started working at Babeland and it blew me away. I’ve always been a bit of a shy talker in bed - mostly because I never really understood the potential of the voice. Then, I heard Midori. She had me (and everyone else) wrapped around her finger, just by using her voice. It was incredible. I’m still not the best talker in bed, but I understand the amazing erotic potential and I appreciate good talkers when I’m with them. This workshop is not typical material and it’s great to step outside the norm and learn something new.

New York’s erotic film festival starts this week (tomorrow, to be exact). It’s called Cinekink. I’ve never managed to make it in previous years. It comes at a generally very busy time in my life. But this year, I made some room. I’m going to see Shortbus, which I didn’t see while it was in theaters. And, I’m going to see a selection of films made by New York directors. They include Audacia Ray and Candida Royalle.

Porn used to be something that you had to watch in the theater with other people. Then VHS and DVD and streaming internet video pretty much meant the demise of the old feature films and the rise of the hand-held video. I love the idea of revisiting that time, even just a little bit. Watching porn with others is always an interesting experience. Even though I watch porn by myself all of the time, watching it with other people makes me a little giggly and a lot self-conscious - but I love it.

There are a lot of great films playing this week. If you’ve got time, I highly recommend checking it out.

While the epidermis is the body’s largest organ, the brain is far more powerful when it comes to the matter of sex, sexuality, and pleasure. Think of the allure of intelligent conversation with your object of fancy, or the way a well-turned page of erotica stirs the nether regions, or how manuals and how-to texts offer myriad tips and tricks to take your sexual encounters to breath-taking new heights: While one can exercise their PC muscles with the Kegelcisor or Smart Balls, grey matter can be given a thorough workout via a well-balanced reading regimen.

As someone whose bookshelves sag from the stress of their collection, I find the book selection at Babeland to be one of the most enticing sections of the shop—when payday comes, I often have a hard time deciding between toys and books— and I’ve noticed that customers spend just as much time leafing through glossy photography books, theory-based texts, and how-to tomes as they do shopping for toys.

In realizing that facing a wall of books can be as daunting as making a first-time dildo purchase, I am here to offer several picks from our reading selection*. One of my favorite genres is the anthology, a collection of diverse authors, stories, and writing styles, complemented by the option of reading front-to-back or skipping around at your leisure. Let’s start those neural synapses firing with three of my top recommendations:

PoMoSexuals: Challenging Assumptions about Gender and Sexuality (ed. Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel)
A postmodern and pansexual cavalcade, PoMoSexuality is defined as “the queer erotic reality beyond the boundaries of gender, separatism, and essentialist notions of sexual orientation.” From a bi-dyke strapping it on for a foray into the realm of the Radical Faeries, to identity and pornography, to sexual and/or gender identity, to ruminations on polyamory and abstinence, this book keeps it coming with a surprise twist on every page. Sometimes light and sometimes heavy, it is at once personal, political, intellectually stimulating, and very, very sexy.

Whores and Other Feminists (ed. Jill Nagle)
Sex workers have been oft maligned by feminists past (and some present) as little more than victims of the patriarchy. In this book, not so: Although published over a decade (!) ago, it remains just as fresh, timely, and pertinent today. Each essay is penned by the fierce women who rock the hustle in the name of passion, income, and, yes, feminism. From phone sex operators to peep show dancers, queer butch gigolos to heterosexual escorts, a wide array of light-hearted tale telling and up-front frankness is offered via viewpoints both diverse and over-lapping. Featuring essays from sex-worker luminaries (Annie Sprinkle, Nina Hartley, Scarlot Harlot…) and newer voices alike, this is a book that I recommend to everyone: Sex-workers, clients, feminists, sex-worker allies… whomever you are, this book will titillate and educate.

GenderQueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary (ed. Clare Howell, Joan Nestle, and Riki Anne Wilchins)
Bringing out the big names in editing (Wilchins, GenderPAC; Nestle, scholar and founder of the Lesbian Herstory Archives; Howell, historian and Brooklyn Public librarian), GenderQueer traverses the amorphous realm between (and beyond) “male” and “female.” Offering numerous first-person accounts ranging from femme identity to intersex biography, sociology to politics, and beyond, each gem-like essay turns pre-conceived notions of sex and gender on their heads. With such an array of food for thought, this book will be the cause of laughter, tears, anger, and, above all, education, understanding, and compassion.

*Some of these books will not be available in our online store. If this is the case, please do visit one of our four retail locations if you are interested in making a purchase.