Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk

Mary Roach is a popular science writer and is the author of the books Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, and Packing for Mars.

As the author of Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex—available in paperback, CD audiobook, cassette audiobook, eBook, cortical implant, and semaphore—I feel the need to correct certain misleading passages in Sex: Our Bodies, Our Junk.

1. Page 56: The stages of The Human Sexual Response Cycle (Revised). Stage 24, "Lingering Trauma," should follow Stage 25, "Quick Snooze," not precede it. Stage 22, "Disentanglement from Drift Net" may occur sporadically throughout the cycle. Duh.

2. In the discussion of "Creative Grips for the Advanced Onanist," the authors have included several potentially harmful techniques. I do not wish to be alarmist, but the "Clashing Rocks" technique has, to date, landed sixteen men in US emergency rooms and merited mention in the "Good Golly" column of Morbidity and Mortality Monthly.

3. Page 175. "Plugging Your Penis with Witch Hazel" does not prevent pregnancy. There is no known excuse for the existence of Witch Hazel.

Otherwise, all facts are correct and scientifically excellent.