It is my proposal, a radical one, that we get the whole human being involved in sex as well as a pair of complementary genitals. This is the sort of thing that everyone might be tempted to agree with, initially, or superficially, but also the sort of thing which, in practice, and emotionally, can be difficult to accept. Similarly, the husband, two generations ago, might have recognized intellectually that he and his wife were animals, but if she had been so unwise as to have crept to him in the middle of the night, whimpering, begging to be fucked, as it is permissible for a wife to do now, he would have been scandalized. They were animals, of course, but, but, but not really! It is our thesis, of course, that we are indeed animals, really, really, but that we are also much more, we are animals with brains, animals with intelligence and imagination, animals with the capacity to fantastically diversify and enhance our sexual experiences. Ways in which this may take place will be discussed in detail later.

It is generally my thesis then to insist on the importance of imagination in sex, to insist that the practice of sex, as performed among human beings, be accorded the same deliberate and playful application of fancy, imagination and intelligence as any other significant human activity.

Imagination is almost totally neglected in the area of sex. Indeed, it is even suspect.

To the repair of that tragedy this book is addressed.

Much in this book is new, but much is not. For example, I am certainly not the first to suggest the application of imagination and intelligence to sexual relationships. I am not the first to sense the exciting role which fantasy can play in intensifying and increasing and multiplying the gratifications of sexual congress. Others have, too, seen the importance of intelligence, of imagination and fantasy. Generally, however, they have feared to speak out plainly. I am sure that many couples, in the secrecy of their love, have practiced the sweet dramatic arts of which I shall write. That these arts should now be made manifest, and their legitimacy explained and argued, defended and set in a total human context, a scientific, psychological and personal context, is perhaps the most revolutionary thing in this book. The revolutionary act is to speak with clearness and in detail, to enunciate and explain imaginative sex with force and fullness.

We must now proceed to do so.

II. Love, Hunters And Evolution

By most people today the word ‘sex’ is still spelled with four letters. This is acceptable provided it is understood that four-letter words are often useful, juicy and expressive. It is not acceptable if such spellings continue to reflect shame syndromes and emotional cripplings.