Bonk

Mary Roach investigates the history and current state of sex research, embedding herself with scientists who study arousal, orgasm, and sexual dysfunction using methods ranging from ultrasound imaging during intercourse to surveys of pig artificial insemination techniques. She argues that despite sex being both universal and endlessly discussed, rigorous scientific study of it has been chronically underfunded, ethically fraught, and socially stigmatized, leaving huge gaps in basic knowledge that persist even today. Through firsthand participation in studies and interviews with researchers across decades, she shows both the ingenuity required to study something so private and the absurd lengths scientists have gone to work around cultural squeamishness.

The book matters because it treats a universally relevant but rarely rigorously discussed subject with genuine scientific curiosity rather than titillation or moralizing, modeling how empirical methods can be applied even to taboo topics if researchers are creative and persistent. It also exposes how cultural discomfort, not lack of scientific interest, has been the primary obstacle to understanding basic human sexual physiology, a pattern with implications well beyond this one subject.

Who should read it

Curious readers who enjoy science writing with irreverent humor, and anyone interested in the history of medicine's treatment of taboo subjects. It also suits readers who appreciate Roach's other investigative science books on unusual bodily topics.

About the author

Mary Roach is an American science writer known for humorous, deeply researched nonfiction on offbeat scientific subjects, including cadavers, digestion, and space travel.