Perv

"An entertaining catalogue of the erotic carnival and a plea for tolerance" (Bryan Appleyard The Sunday Times)

"As mind-boggling as it is informative" (Independent on Sunday)

"It's hard to disagree with Bering's generous liberalism" (The Times)

"A serious and humane book" (Guardian)

"A whirlwind journey through the kinks of the human personality... In entertaining fashion, this psychologist aims to show that normal is just a number; that many of us have strange quirks so quite the moralising" (The Times, Summer Books)

"A delightful, intelligent, and thought-provoking addition to the growing body of our sexual knowledge of self" (Publishers Weekly)

"Jesse Bering is the Hunter S. Thompson of science writing, and he is a delight to read - funny, smart, and madly provocative." (Professor Paul Bloom, Yale University)

"A colourful romp through psychology, philosophy and popular culture." (New Humanist)

In this eye-opening book, psychologist Jesse Bering argues that we are all sexual deviants on one level or another. He introduces us to the young woman who falls madly in love with the Eiffel Tower, a young man addicted to seductive sneezes, and a pair of deeply affectionate identical twins, among others. He challenges us to move beyond our attitudes towards ‘deviant’ sex and consider the alternative: what would happen if we rise above our fears and revulsions and accept our true natures?

With his signature wit and irreverent style, Bering pulls back the curtains on the history of perversions, the biological reasons behind our distaste for unusual sexual proclivities and the latest research on desire. Armed with reason, science and an insatiable appetite for knowledge, he humanises deviants while asking some provocative questions about the nature of hypocrisy, prejudice and when sexual desire can lead to harm.

A groundbreaking look at our complex relationship with our carnal urges and the ways in which we disguise, deny and shame the sexual deviant in all of us, Perv brings hidden desires into the spotlight.