America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction

Recently, someone close to me and my wife revealed something rather shocking to us about his/her (I’ll be nice and keep this pronoun-neutral) sex life. Not only did I not want to hear the details, I would’ve never fathomed that this person would do what he/she did. I’m no prude, but his/her acts boggled the mind.

No doubt about it, this country’s sexual attitudes are changing for the bizarre, and MSNBC journalist Brian Alexander set out to find out just what the hell’s going on in AMERICAN UNZIPPED: IN SEARCH OF SEX AND SATISFACTION. I read it in hopes of gaining some insight, and came away with even more questions. As a rather liberal co-worker of mine put it, “Am I so crazy for not wanting anyone else to fuck my girlfriend?”

Alexander casts himself as a free-thinking person, but admits even he is disturbed by the “wildest of the wild sex” going on among otherwise “normal” adults. “I’ve engaged in no Bloomsbury literary group spouse swapping, no visits to Bangkok bars where dancers shoot Ping-Pong balls out of their vaginas,” he writes in his introduction. “I suppose I am a libertarian when it comes to consenting adults doing sexually whatever it is consenting adults want to do, but I have never truly been a part of all this letting go and I wonder how other people manage it.”

To wonder no more, Alexander immersed himself in the world of strange, unusual and/or deviant sex – as an observer, mind you – to see what’s what and why (and, in some cases, how). What he finds generally is that most people seek the extreme out of sheer boredom, or because they think everyone else is having more fun sexually than they are, whether or not it’s true.

His quest begins in Hillsborough, N.C. with the “how-to” sex video empire of Phil Harvey. You’ve probably seen his work advertised in mainstream mags as THE BETTER SEX SERIES. Although his firm also sells hardcore porn and a variety of adult toys, he has a suburban mom on staff who views no conflict between her work and her steadfast faith in Christianity.

Speaking of God, Alexander next visits preacher Joe Beam, who travels the circuit spreading the word of the Lord in its relation to, well, relations. From oral to anal, Beam has scripture at hand to back it up. The only thing the man seems uncomfortable with is the topic of homosexuality. An interesting statistic pops up in this chapter: 50 percent of preachers visit porn websites, and 20 percent admit to being addicted to them.

Alexander’s first true discomfort arrives when he becomes an employee of a Fascinations sex superstore in Tempe, Ariz. He’s just not at ease suggestive selling butt plugs to complete strangers, see. The same goes for sitting in on an all-female toy party, which has replaced Tupperware in these ’00s. Other chapters have him visiting with amateur porn actors and full-fledged swingers, and attending a sex club where he’s forced to wear leather pants so tight that his testes “have been turned into a meatball panini.”

Bravo to Alexander for his self-imposed journalism assignment, because it’s not every day that pros get to write lines like “The woman has a junkyard hanging from her cooter.” His voice is sensible, humorous and largely unbiased, even when he is aghast. For example, when a very free-spirited couple invites him to watch them copulating, he’s too sheepish to go through it, slipping out the door before the act even truly begins, but he doesn’t judge them.

Non-fiction “tour of duty” books like this are proliferating nowadays, but the more oddball the subject, the more entertaining they are. And if anything-goes sex isn’t oddball, what is? –Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.

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