When I ordered this book I thought I was purchasing a book of fantastic, surrealistic Fetish photographs. I was totally surprised with what arrived in the mail. I wasn't at all disappointed however, because I loved this text book of cultural and gender studies. It helped that the author looked like my daughter so that gave me a favorable first impression. Where in the world were these kinds of classes when I was attending college? I feel so cheated when I read text books like this one. It's fun reading and there are plenty of photographs and illustrations included and discussed in the volume. It was difficult to put the book aside even though it does have it's share of academic jargon but not enough to get in the way of the volume's readability. I particularly enjoyed the insights that the book provided into my own tastes. It's one thing to know that you instinctively like something, but it's something else entirely to learn why you may be intrigued by that particular thing. This is definitely an eye opening book. I'm still jealous of current college students who have the option of taking classes that would use a textbook like this one. It's a page turner and I can't recall feeling that way about any other text book I've ever studied. I suspect other people were also fooled about the book's subject by the wonderful cover illustration. I couldn't help but notice that as of the date of this review there are two used copies of the hardback edition are for sale as collectables. It is a most unusual text book that can become a successful seller in the non-text book and collectable market. That fact alone is a wonderful recommendation for reading it even if you aren't "post-human."
