Where The Girls Go:
Sex on the Web

by Amy Keyishian

Reading a book about Web sites is a bit like listening to a CD about tap dancing. I mean, you sort of get the idea, but you're kind of missing a whole dimension. So I didn't expect much from The Woman's Guide to Sex on the Web by Anne Semans and Cathy Winks. But after a slow start, the book really was a pleasant -- not to mention informative -- surprise. Which, actually, I should have figured, given that it comes to us from the righteous babes at Good Vibrations, the super-friendly super-femme sex-toy supply company. Always a good sign.

(Guys: don't go away. This book + you = potentially self-serving V-Day gift, unfilltered info on how the other half self-loves, etc., etc.)

This kind of guide might seem unneccessary, since you ought to be able to do your own Yahoo search for Betty-friendly sex sites, but let's face it: looking for sex on the web is like looking for hay in a haystack. A search for, say, "advice on erotic shaving" is going to turn up an overwhelming number of sites, most with descriptions like "BOOBIES BOOBIES BOOBIES ORIENTAL LOVESLUTS HORNY MAMA 4U." Trolling through all of that is annoying, time-consuming and hard to explain to your boss.

Although this book starts with some tedious (but perhaps necessary) foreplay -- that is, long explanations about what a modem is, and stuff like "most of us find it hard enough to articulate our sexual desires and share them with a partner, let alone total strangers" (speak for yourself, sweetheart!) -- it becomes an excellent resource once it gets going. There are wise cautions about protecting your privacy and avoiding ripoffs on pay sites, and funny sidebar rants about bad web design and evil emoticons.

Best of all, though, Semans and Winks (their names?! hello!?) have really come up with a wide-ranging collection of quality sites. They're not all to everyone's taste (what is?), but they really are all here, from straight-up information (health, family planning, etc.) to advice topics a tad more NC-17 than Breakup Girl's, to community discussions to fetishes to empowered pornstar -- and my personal favorite, Kinky Cards. All are reviewed from a strong-sassy perspective -- that is, with no apologies for being sexy and sexual, yet no desire to be powerless or dumb.

Breakup Girl is not getting my copy of it back. At least not until I get my question answered.

Amy Keyishian has written for Nerve, CuisineNet, and her bad self, as well as for many publications that involve paper. So far, she's learned everything she needs to know about her bikini line on the bulletin boards here.

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