Capozzola Michael - Sex : an uncensored introduction

Y ouve probably already figured this out from the title, but the book you are holding in your hands right now is about sex. Thats right. It takes the two most exciting things in the world sex and books and combines them into this one magnificent object. Yep, every word, sentence, and illustration in this book is about that three-letter word that everyone is thinking about on some level or another even if they dont want to admit it. So, why a book about sex? And, more important, why this book about sex?

From a very early age I received a lot of mixed-up information about sex. Family members, friends, teachers, the media everyone had opinions about what was okay and normal, bad and strange. As a kid, you rely on other people to help you make sense of things, and when everyone seems to be at odds with one topic, it can make that topic difficult to talk about. Like everything in my life that ever confused me, I dealt with sex by cracking a lot of jokes about it.

Still, by the age of 18, I was pregnant and homeless and still absolutely confused about sex. Was I a bad person for wanting it? Was I a bad girlfriend if I didnt? What was the point of safe sex, really? How could I tell someone that I wasnt interested in having sex? Was I gay? Was I normal? Would I ever be?

In 2007, I began making a web series with my friends, and it was through that series that I was finally able to talk to that teenage version of myself and say things that would have made a difference to hear. We insisted on keeping it funny and ridiculous because life is funny and ridiculous. Now the mother of teens, I talk to them about everything the same way I talk to all of you in this book. This is my conversation with you, only you dont get to say anything back to me. Sorry. (Also, if we were talking face to face we probably wouldnt spend the whole time talking about sex. Only about 80 percent...)

But theres only so much we can say in three-minute-long webisodes, which is why I wanted to write this book.

There is an awful lot of information out there about sex, and it is pretty easy to access. And yet teens are still getting pregnant, picking up sexually transmitted infections, and learning about sex through information that is incorrect, condescending, or just plain boring. Theres nothing boring about sex, so why should you feel bored while learning about it?

This book is about everything that has to do with sex: bodies, birth control, virginity, sexual orientation, masturbation, dating, sexually transmitted infections, performance, orgasms, what to do if youre in love with a werewolf and your friends dont approve This book is not here to tell you to have or not to have sex its to tell you what you need to know if you are having sex, or ever will. Everyone has questions about sex, even those who arent doing it yet. Even people who have been doing it for a bajillion years still have questions (like, why am I still alive and having sex as a bajillion-year old?).

I love humor. But I also believe in supremely factual and up-to-date info, so I consulted many doctors and sex experts to write this book. I have also included a great list of teen resources at the end, so you can find answers to anything this book doesnt cover and get new information when it comes out.

Any book about sex is going to need to be updated from time to time. Updated information comes to light, new technologies are introduced, and the medical field fixes things that once held us back. This book was initially written as a result of that web series I hosted in 2007. At the time, there was nothing else like it. Shortly after that, web videos started to boom, and now the amount of people out there talking openly about sex is immeasurable. In this updated version, we introduce a whole new chapter focusing on that technology and added some great bits of new information about a few things that have changed. (You could make it a game. Read the old one and then find the changes. I didnt say it was a fun game. But maybe you live someplace really boring and youre too old to play Mouse Trap.)

Now, on to the book! Read it. Get your friends to read it. Talk about it. Put the words into song. Buy two copies and compare them to see if there are any differences. Wildly wave your copy in the air and quote parts of it in the hallways. Or just read it. But then take the information youve gleaned and do something useful with it, like understand your body more and figure out how to talk about sex. And remember that it is OK to laugh. After all, sex is a serious topic, but its also pretty funny.

Nikol Hasler, writer and host
of the Midwest Teen Sex Show