Queer Inside

I am gay and I picked up this book out of curiousity. Even though I know that this is a medical reference work, it is downright frightening to see page after page of diseases, conditions, and medical emergencies having to do with gay sex. It is something of an anti-aphrodisiac to have so much information. This book gives me ammunition when some criticize me for not being sexually adventurous enough. You would have to be crazy to do some of the more bizarre practices after reading this book. This is a good book, but frankly, I would rather just limit my practices rather than risk some of these conditions and diseases. One regret: am I the only one who suspects that a lot of promiscuity is due to a lot of attention deficit disorder men not being under medication? It seems to be the only rational explanation for the seeming inability to stay focused on one partner for any length of time!
Rating: 4 / 5

Goldstone, Stephen E. “The Ins and Outs of Gay Sex”, Dell, 1999.

Minus Moralizing

Amos Lassen

The AIDS epidemic changed the way gay men look at health issues and many had to change their sexual habits. Goldstone explains openly and fully some of those questions that many of us are too embarrassed to discuss with our regular physicians Let’s face it, most of us learned about gay sex from each other and I don’t think that we bothered to also learn about medical concerns. The book is filled with facts, case studies and interviews and it looks at everything that has to do with educating the reader about safe practices as well as pleasurable kinds of sexual activity.

Goldstone knows what he is talking about and he communicates his knowledge is way that is easily understandable. He keeps it light and entertaining as well as erotic. Goldstone covers all kinds of topics from penis enlargement to drugs to all kinds of sexual activities and he explains misunderstandings and techniques. We confront whatever we feel about safer sex and Goldstone tells us what we need to know.

Rating: 5 / 5

Yes this book makes us confront our own rationilaztions and justifactions for not engaging in safe sex, or engaging in promiscious sex with strangers. The facts are facts, regardless of what you want to believe, and Dr. Goldstone lays all the cards on the table and lets y ou make the decisions from there. He is a gay doctor, so these same issues which he talks about are physical conditions that he himself has to avoid inh is own personal life. I bought this book for my own edification and plan on donating it to my Universitiy’s GLBT student services library so others can have insight into the heatlth risks associated with gay sex. The book made me take my own sexual practices into perspective, both past and future, and allowed me to make more intellgient decisions on how to proceed. He make sit very clear that HIV/AIDS is not the only STD out there that can have a very damaging effect, and he also discusses many other health issues and illnesses that can affect men. He also discusses sex, and how to use lubricants and condoms and how to position yourself for penetration, so this is a great device for the inexperienced young men trying their sexuality out for the first time. Dr. Goldstone is 100% pro gay, he is gay himself, but that does not mean we can deny the truth of our biological bodies and the physical conditions that can come upon them. Read this book with a grain of salt, and use it to better protect yourself, thats what it’s intention is for. He also adds vignettes to the chapters previous to you reading them to give you a perspective of where he is coming from, and also has a great sense of humor, although it is a bit corny. I wish more MDs would realize we need some humor in order to rest our minds during a physical examination. He also makes it very clear that you should be completely upfront with your physician about being gay and the sexual acts you perform, otherwise most straight physicians in particular could easily over look your symptoms as being something else entirely.
Rating: 5 / 5