Strange Loves: The Human Aspects of Sexual Deviation, by Dr. Eustace Chesser

Strange Loves: The Human Aspects of Sexual Deviation, by Dr. Eustace Chesser. 1971 hardcover. 256 pages, very nice condition.

This sensitive book about sexual atitudes advocates, in its author’s words, “a revolutionary change in our approach to the morality of sex.” For Dr. Chesser believes that what people do together, the form of their sexual satisfaction, is immaterial and nobody’s business but their own. All that matters is their state of mind and whether what they are doing, no matter what bit is, how extreme it may seem, is mutually enjoyed. The book seeks to dispense with the unfortunate division of sexual acts into “normal” and “abnormal” – such a division does no more than keep some people from their pleasure and fill others with feelings of guilt and shame. The only dividing line in sexual behavior should be between what people do with mutual consent and what people do against someone else’s will - in other words, between social and anti-social acts. This was an important book at the time that came on the heels of the sexual revolution.