Reading is powerful!
What’s also powerful? Supporting causes you like.
Like libraries! I found most of these books at my local library. Cost effective and supports local jobs.
Yay librarians!
If your library doesn’t have a book, there’s still an opportunity to make a difference.
Your local bookstore.
Shopping at a local bookshop supports your local community, local jobs, and local businesses. Better than online marketplace shopping. (1, 5, 6)
Shopping local means ~ 2/3 of every dollar spent stays in local communities. Shopping local has ~7x more positive impact on communities than online third-party shopping. (1, 6)
There are two exceptions.
Bookshop.org and BetterWorldBooks®.
These two online bookshops offer ethical shopping that can support your community, local bookstores, educational non-profits, local jobs, or redirecting used books from landfills.
Bookshop.org is a convenient online marketplace connects you to local bookshops.
You can buy directly from your local bookstore or choose a store, like a Black–Owned Bookshop to shop directly through.
Or you can buy through bookshop.org without selecting a specific store. Bookshop.org will split the sale amongst independently owned bookshops across the US.
Added awesomeness? Bookshop.org collaborates with Libro.fm, an audiobook platform.
When you buy an audiobook, that sale can still support local bookstores!
There’s a fantastic list of Indigenous–Owned and Black–Owned bookstores at Libro.fm you can shop audiobooks from too.
While not for everyone, audiobooks do offer a more sustainable reading option. There’s no shipping, no packaging, no paper book. And while not free, like at the library, audiobooks typically cost less than physical books.
Wait! There’s more!
If you prefer E-books, Bookshop.org also partners with My Must Reads, an E-reader app. I’ve not used this app myself, But it’s another no shipping, no packaging, no paper option that still supports local bookstores. Yay options!
For digital formats on Bookshop.org check out the “Get the Audio Book” or “Get the E-book” link located under the print options.
(2)
Where bookshop.org is USA and local bookshop focused, BetterWorldBooks®, focuses on, well, the world.
Most books sold are donated or surplus, rather than from shops directly. This business model has different impacts.
It’s up to which ones you’d rather support.
(3, 4)
This shelf keeps growing and is not all-inclusive.
There are countless books to read, authors to support, things to learn.
As a white, queer, cis-gender woman who writes about the intersections of environmentalism, history, and sex, I found the following books insightful:
By Harriet A Washington
Washington, with a multidimensional approach, exposes the link between structural racism, environmental policy, health, and child development in America and beyond. Why are Black communities disproportionally exposed to environmental hazards? What are the impacts of that exposure?
From spatial injustices like segregation, racist city planning, and land & water contamination, to procedural injustices, this data-packed book delivers example after example of how policy failed, and continues to fail, Black communities.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dina Gilio-Whitaker
Anything I say about this powerful work falls flat. But I’ll try.
This is the history of Indigenous Peoples’ fight for environmental justice. Written by Colville Confederated Tribes descendant and Indigenous educator Gilio-Whitaker. Gilio-Whitaker, through an environmental justice lens, confronts the long history of treaty violations, food & water insecurity, genocide, structural racism, white supremacy, Indigenous women’s leadership, and ecocide.
The final chapters discus the need for non-native environmentalist groups to welcome, and collaborate with, Indigenous tribes better than they currently do.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By David Redmon
For a textbook-quality case study of harmful consumerism, check this book out. It combines cultural sociology and the product life cycle of Mardi Gras beads. From unethical working conditions in China, to the environmental impact of lead-contaminated plastics, Redmon shows how this innocent product isn’t innocent at all.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Verdigras, a New Orleans grassroots organization dedicated to preserving Mardi Gras while preserving the Earth, shares ideas on how to help.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Rebecca Burgess
I don’t talk about clothing on How i Healthy, nor do I offer brand recommendations. That’s because of Fibershed.
Often the most ethical & sustainable clothing comes from your regional community. That means fibers grown/raised, harvested/collected, and woven locally is preferable to any factory produced clothing- even those with ethical certifications. (And if that’s not in budget, thrifting is another great option).
We hear “shop locally”, and “farm to table” constantly. Now there’s “clothe locally” and “farm to fashion”.
Fibershed dives into the textile industry, natural vs. synthetic fiber production, animal & plant fibers, dye processes, composability, labor issues, and how everything is interconnected. I absolutely love this book.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Mark Hyman, MD
Without subscribing to any single “dietary lifestyle” (i.e., paleo or vegan), Dr. Hyman, through peer-reviewed research, describes the landscape of America’s farms, the Farm Bill & SNAP program, food industry & regulation (or lack of), environmental policy, nutrition recommendations, biased/funded research, and our health. Dr. Hyman exposes the interconnectedness of these seemingly disjointed issues to revel a broken system.
It’s an angering book to be honest, but an excellent read.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Tansy E. Hoskins
A holistic examination on shoes. Hoskins covers shoes from every angle: cultural influence, environmentalism, feminism, history, identity, industry, policy, production, social impact, and so much more. It’s everything I love in a book.
Packed with data, research, and personal narratives from exploited workers, Foot Work exposes an incredibly wasteful industry. But Hoskins doesn’t leave us hopeless. Instead, she offers practical calls to action for consumers, designers, manufactures, and policy makers.
It’s a fantastic read that might change the way you shop.
Buy at: Bookshop®
By Nick Meynen
There are lots of books about climate change and environmental issues out there. Most leave me feeling powerless to do anything about it. This book is different.
It’s an account of climate activists taking on corporations and industry. It’s an empowering narrative of ordinary people and their environmental justice victories. It’s a book at says “we can do this!” Rather refreshing compared to the doom and gloom themes of most climate change conversations.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Mike Berners-Lee
If there was ever a book that clearly explained the complexity of carbon footprints and greener choices, this is it. Carbon footprints can feel so abstract, but with ballpark guesstimation, Berners-Lee makes it tangible.
From bananas shipped by boat, air-freight asparagus, to hand dryers and World Cup tournaments, this book roughly calculates the carbon impact of everything. And there are a few real surprises! Some of my assumptions about carbon impacts where completely wrong!
Berners-Lee has written a page-turner stuffed with science, funny anecdotes, and judgment-free explanations to talk big picture concepts. And all without preaching, eco-shaming, or saying the only solution is off-grid tiny house living eating nothing but grass.
Berners-Lee is the first to say that carbon footprint isn’t everything, after all, plastic bags technically have a lower footprint than paper, but plastic is terrible in other ways. Or that polyester clothing is more carbon-efficient than cotton, but it doesn’t biodegrade. But this book made it easy to literally weight my carbon footprint options.
I learned I have many higher-carbon footprint habits, and with the book as a guide, I swapped some out for lower carbon habits. Long explication short, I learned a lot from this book and applied what I learned. It’s exactly what I want in green living book.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Susan Freinkel
There’s lots of books about why plastic is horrible. Plastic: A Toxic Love Story, goes deeper. Through a series of microhistories on different plastic products folks use every day, Freinkel tells the history of plastic, and its pros & cons. It’s a historical look at plastic, how it built the modern world, and how culture has evolved around it.
Freinkel observes plastics, and its complicated history, through the eyes of an investigative journalist. With this lens, Freinkel offers no solutions and withholds from most opinions. Instead, data and facts are presented for the reader to interpret as they will.
Even though this book is 10+ years old, the history, science, and questions it raises are still relevant today.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Paul Hawken
A fantastic introduction to the state of the world.
Regeneration is full of big-picture climate challenges with anecdotal stories, statistics, and current (as of 2021) solutions in progress. Hawken gives a general overview of different ecosystems, communities, industries and more. And all while relating back to climate & social justice.
It’s the perfect balance of problem stating call-to-action, inspiration, and climate victories. It’s doom & gloom with a hearty side dish of hope. An impressive feat.
But, honestly, the best part of Regeneration isn’t the book.
It’s the online Regeneration Action Nexus. This database takes the book’s foundation and builds upon it by answering the question we’re all asking: How do I help the world?
The book starts the conversation, the website leads to action.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Elizabeth Cline
The follow up to, Overdressed, Cline’s first book that exposed the harmful impact of cheap fashion.
The Conscious Closet is the how-to guide.
Cline walks readers through practical ways to make better-for-the-world clothing choices.
There’s emphasis on buying less to afford better quality clothes, shopping secondhand, and choosing more sustainable fabrics. The chapter about how to sew buttons and care for clothing was a thoughtful addition.
This is an excellent “how to start” resource for folks new to sustainable fashion.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Leah Thomas
If you are new to intersectional environmentalism, this book is an excellent and accessible introduction.
Using data, sources, and metrics Thomas presents the history of environmental racism, discrimination, and voices unheard. All while weaving in professional Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American Pacific Islander commentary along the way too.
The author themselves says it best: “We can’t save the planet without uplifting the voices of its people, especially those most often unheard” – Leah Thomas
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Annie Leonard
There are many environmentalist books that are stuffed with jargon and academic prose that most folk won’t read them.
This book is different. Still backed with hundreds of references and solid data, The Story of Stuff is readable and full of actionable takeaways.
Leonard explores supply lines and American consumerism: from extraction (i.e., trees, rocks, water, and the enslaved people/children who extract it) to production & distribution, to consumption, to disposal/end-of-life.
I appreciate how often Leonard stresses that it’s not about buying the “right stuff”, it’s about buying less, and buying secondhand or local when you do.
Buy at: Bookshop®
By Dr. Ingrid R.G. Waldron
This is a case study packed with empirical evidence.
Dr. Waldron exposes structural racism and its impact on environmental policy and how this environmental racism disproportionately affects Black communities and Mi’kmaq First Nations in Nova Scotia. These communities are disproportionately located near pollution sources, toxic waste sites, landfills, and chemical plants. This spatial injustice creates hazardous housing situations while procedural injustice perpetuates insufficient environmental policy.
Dr. Waldron goes one-step further. Through community-based participatory research (CBPR) she investigates the mental health impacts of land dispossession, forced migration, settler-colonialism, and intergenerational trauma. And it’s only the start of Dr. Waldron’s work.
For more information about Dr. Waldron’s ongoing activism, check out the ENRICH Project.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Hilary Hinds
A micro-history about twin beds from 1870-1970 in the UK & US might not sound significant, but there’s actually a lot to unpack!
Couples sleeping separately in twin beds was consider very modern during this time. Hinds explores why. Hinds explores how hygiene/medical advice led to marriage guidance and eventually escalated to Hollywood television censoring.
Twin Beds were not initially “prudish”, “sexually restrictive”, or “a sign of a failed marriage” as many folks tend to assume.
This book takes a seemingly insignificant topic and exposes the complexity of it.
It dismantled my ignorant judgments too. I wasn’t expecting that!
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Mireille Miller-Young, Ph.D.
Miller-Young wants Black voices in the adult industry heard.
Through personal interviews with Black women, archival research, critical race theory, and porn film analysis, Miller-Young does that. And so much more.
Miller-Young talks about the complicated relationship of Black woman and pornography since the early 1900s. Not only in regard to racism, black sexuality, representation, agency, and identity in pornography, but as Black pornographers, creators, and entertainers.
Why do some Black women enjoy the porn industry? Why do some hate it? What do Black women want out their pornography careers? What stories do Black women hear/see and want would they rather tell? In Brown Sugar, Milller-Young asks the questions, and Black women answer.
Buy at: Bookshop®
By Mary Roach
This was one of those books that showed me how little I know about sex, history, and science. There’s a bit of everything in here. When stigma prevented funding, how did scientists research sex? What did folks do before Viagra®? It’s intriguing, a bit disturbing, and might just be a question on trivia night.
Roach has a remarkable way of delivering academic research in an approachable and funny way. It’s a readable academic book. A feat. Roach crafts humorous data-packed prose that flows effortlessly. Published in 2008, this book needs a Vol. 2.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dr. Becca Levy
If you read one book on this list, let Breaking the Age Code be it. This book can change your life. Sound ridiculous? Read it and see for yourself.
This book takes what you might think about age and dismantles it. Dr. Levy calls out ageist culture, the most widely accepted form of discrimination, and offers a positive perspective on aging. A positive perspective, in turns out, makes all the difference.
Simply having a better outlook on age can add years to our lives. Up to 7.5 years to be precise. Dr. Levy, a leader in her field of gerontology, offers study after study explaining why our age beliefs can make or break us. Beyond self-help though, Dr. Levy offers actions to dismantle systemic and structural ageism in our communities too.
Beyond the content, this book readable and enjoyable to read. The style is informative, but not alienating with academic talk. Very down to Earth.
This book and message is more powerful than any (ageist) anti-aging cream out there.
It’s so good, I read it aloud to my partner so we can age together happily and keep each other in check if we slide into ageist thinking.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Hallie Lieberman, Ph.D.
Like sex toys? Like history? How about sex toy history?
Here’s your book to learn about your vibrator’s origin story!
How did sex toys shed their taboos and stigma? Who were the folks behind the cultural and political shifts in America? What roadblocks do sex toys still face? Sex historian, Hallie Lieberman, lays it all out in easy-to-read prose.
This book started my fascination with the intersection of sex, politics, culture, and history. How could a vibrator cause so much turmoil and influence pretty much everything? Even in the 21st century! It’s angering and absurd.
This book is the story of how far sex toys have come. And how far they still need to go.
Buy at: Better World Books®
By James Hamblin, M.D.
Here’s a dive into microbiome science, hygiene history, and the skin care industry. With a good side of humor thrown in too. Not a heavy academic read, but still full of good research-backed nuggets and history. Plus, practical ways to spot bogus claims and avoid skincare consumer traps.
This book developed my consumer skepticism for most products. A trait that has saved me money over the years.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
Edited By Joanne Barker
A collection of 7 essays from different contributors that examine how Eurocentric views of gender, sexuality, masculinity, and colonization imposed on Indigenous cultures throughout history and to today. The chapter on embodied trauma and Indigenous lands left me in awe. The final chapter on Eco-Eroticism is a stunning weave of creative nonfiction & essay, and I don’t have the words to express its beauty.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Hodding Carter
Your source for random toilet facts, history, and love for modern plumbing. It’s a breezy historical account that also addresses modern day plumbing issues. This short, yet witty book is filled with the author’s gusto for toilets. There’s an unexpected, but appreciated, chapter bio-gas digesters too!
It’s a humorous romp through plumbing history. Without a bad toilet pun in site. A feat I Fail to Achieve.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Rita Catinella
Part sculpture, part fashion, part engineering feat, Objects of Desire is the coffee table look-book for all things erotic. Dildos that belong in a modern art collection, and lingerie for the runway. It all lives here on bold and colorful pages, like a portfolio.
Interviews throughout the book showcase inventors, their creations, and the meticulous thought that goes into design.
Though I normally go for eBooks, but I feel this book isn’t fully appreciated in digital format. It’s a work of art itself, and worthy of the pedestal that is my coffee table.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dr. Jessica Borge
This book is a gem.
It’s an academic thesis on condoms, one of the few in existence. A microhistory through the lens of a London-based condom factory at a time when no one wanted to talk about sex or sexual health.
It’s also the story of an industry’s struggle against the politics & society determined to shut it down.
It’s got everything I like in history book. The subject matter is just a bonus.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
Edited By Uriel Quesada, Letitia Gomez, and Salvador Vidal-Ortiz
A collection of essays documenting both racism and LGBT activism from the 1980s-1990s in the Latinx communities of America and Puerto Rico.
The first-person narratives (sometimes translated) tell the untold histories of Latinx LGBT leaders, their struggles, and their triumphs. It’s a huge intersection of topics examined through multiple lenses & people.
Words don’t do it justice. I couldn’t put it down.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dr. Fern Riddell
A fantastic contribution to the underrepresented field of sex & sexuality history.
Packed with sources, court documents, case studies, and easy-to-read-prose, Dr. Riddell covers lighthearted and heavy topics alike through readable prose. Covering a span of centuries, Dr. Riddell explores the sex lives and how culture, stigma, and taboo affected it.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Betty Dodson, Ph.D.
A memoir by Betty Dodson, a sexual liberation pioneer of the 60s-2000s. Through fearless prose, Dodson retells her sexual journey and how it inspired her to help others. It’s because of people like Dodson that I have the sex life I want.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Howard Chiang, Ph.D.
A fantastic dive into sexuality in China. And not through Western perspectives or analysis.
Professor Chiang clears up Western misconceptions and Western fantasies about sex and sexuality in China. It illuminates the life of concubines, erotica of imperial China, the influence of Westernization on sexuality, and so much more. This is an academic work and hopefully a launching point for future publications by Dr. Chiang.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
Edited By Daina Ramey Berry & Leslie M. Harris
An anthology exploring the overlooked stories of consensual sexual intimacy within enslaved communities.
Although there are accounts of sexual exploitation, the editors expanded beyond it, to show how sexual expression amongst enslaved peoples also thrived.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Richard Barnett
Don’t mind slightly gruesome history full of historical medical illustrations & photographs?
This is your book!
Historians, art lovers, dental professionals, technologists, and folks who can stomach early medical practice can find topics of intrigue.
Barnett, medical historian and author of several gruesome visual histories, covers dentistry through the ages in Smile Stealers.
Easy prose and visuals abound make this history book a fun (but still unnerving) read.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Thomas W. Laquer
Although this academic text on masturbation history is 20+ years old with some outdated language, it’s one of the few academic texts on masturbation.
It’s got some gaps in the 2,000+ years of masturbation history it covers, but books by Betty Dodson and others can fill some in.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Jeremy L. Caradonna
Concerns about sustainability isn’t new.
Caradonna takes us back to 17th century and follows the birth and growth of the sustainability moment up to 2014 (the book’s publication). While today’s landscape makes aspects of Caradonna’s later chapters a bit dated, the history is still valid.
It’s not a “we’re doomed!” message about the modern era.
It’s a history book about the sustainability movement, its philosophy, and how it’s constantly battling capitalism. Even hundreds of years ago.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Mary Otto
Why did 12-year-old Deamonte Driver die from an abscessed tooth in 2007?
Why is dental coverage not included in medical insurance? What impact does this have on public health and funding?
Why are American dental associations lobbying against expanding dentistry access?
We find the answers at the intersection of dentistry, systematic inequality & racism, unemployment, education, and public policy. Otto, a medical journalist, exposes America’s dental profession, its history, and how both perpetuate today’s oral health crisis.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dr. Kate Lister
A collection of short, yet enlightening, microhistories.
It’s a fusion of sex, science, culture, sex work, and etymology (swoon!).
A delightful read, one full of wit. It recounts the often-horrifying history of sex in a way that keeps you reading. The photographs add so much awesomeness too. Dr. Lister is a genius. I can’t wait for her next book! I only wish for more perspectives, not just Western cis-gender ones.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Katherine Ashenburg
For the Western history of hygiene, this is your book. It’s full of bathing practices, cultural perspectives on hygiene, and the questionable science that influenced it all.
Why were clean linens better than bathing? Why was good hygiene unpatriotic? How did politics influence bathing throughout the centuries? Just how did folks back in the day smell? Why were cold baths better than hot? And how did advertisements fuel body-shaming and cultural perceptions of hygiene? What’s the future of bathing?
This fact-loaded book lays out all the answers. My only wish is for volume 2, a history of hygiene in the non-Western world.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Saskia Wiering & Horacio Sívori
Many academic works, including several I recommend in this list, focus on white, Western, and/or cis-gender perspectives.
This text is different. Focusing instead on the global south. The authors use 12 original case studies to cover underrepresented cultures, sexualities, and countries.
It’s an academic read, which might deter folks from reading it altogether. As much as I enjoy research papers, this one was difficult to wrap my head around. I hope more books on these topics are published, and in a more digestible way. Till then, this is my go-to.
Buy at: Bookshop®
By Mark Pendergrast
It’s coffee and history. Two of my favorite things. It’s academic and might require a few cups of coffee to get through, but it’s worth it.
The only thing I’d change is the title. This predominantly focuses on America, not the world. Sure, it covers coffee’s origin story across the Atlantic, but then focuses almost exclusively on American exploitation of global coffee farmers. I’d appreciate personal accounts from those farmers too. And what the impact of unfair coffee trading did/does to their communities. But, for a thorough example of US coffee practices and exploitation, it’s unmatched.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Lynn Comella, Ph.D.
This book is a perfect example of what I want in a history text.
A laser-focused topic, in this case, sex toy shops, and how they shaped and were shaped by society, politics, and stigma.
The history of sex shops is an excellent case study on the dynamic relationship of politics, feminism, stigma, sex education, economics, sexuality, oppression, expression, entrepreneurship, and activism.
This book does it all.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Brian Fagan & Nadia Durrani
The history of the bed and everything that happened in it.
Surprise! It’s not just sex!
Childbirth, death, governance, eating, and entertaining. Folks have done a lot of things in bed.
This micro-history weaves art, culture, politics, and science of beds together with a never-ending stream of interesting facts.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Ronald Blumer
Here’s a quick read that’ll make you the toilet paper expert in any room.
It’s beyond TP though.
Discover historical bum wiping methods and different cultural perspectives about pooping.
‘Cause why not?
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Vic Liu
Where Betty Dodson’s Sex for One explains the pleasure masturbation gave her, Bang explains how to get it in this no-nonsense masturbation 101 guide.
Got a vagina? Here’s some options.
Got a penis? Here’s some options.
Got a butt? Here’s some options.
A surprise bonus? Bang also covers anti-masturbation history, myths, troubleshooting, and sex toys.
There are great pictures too! It’s an all-around guide to masturbation and the things that go with it.
Buy On: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Lori A. Brotto. Ph.D.
Sex, science, mindfulness, and meditation. My favorite things.
As someone with a daily mediation practice already, I still found value in this book. The research-based mindfulness exercises included are designed specifically for sexual experiences. This type of meditation was new for me.
A bit academic at times, Brotto nonetheless creates a science-packed text accessible to most readers while still engaging clinicians or the seasoned meditator.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Emily Nagoski, Ph.D.
Are there words to even express how important this book is? Anything I say only falls short. But I’ll try.
Nagoski, through science, explores what factors actually affect sexual arousal and satisfaction. What things turn folk on, and what things turn folk off.
Spoilers: It’s different for everyone and that’s okay.
This is not a how to guide. It’s not full of sex positions or fingering techniques.
It’s a book that asks you to reflect on your favorite sexy times, analyze it, and figure out how to replicate it the good things you felt. A few worksheets guide this reflection. And if you need more to work through, Nagoski has an accompanying workbook that does just that.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Nabila Geron
Nabby Geron is a Black woman with Teacher Collins Syndrome. Partially deaf, due to microtia, Geron grew up bilingual in English and American Sign Language.
Her autobiography is raw, blunt, unapologetic, and unfiltered.
Although the title specifies sex, Geron recounts many facets of her life: relationships, work, education, health, and her experiences as a filmmaker from 1970s to 2018. It’s a look into someone’s life, with a raw honesty.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
I adore anything by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.
Their webcomic, Oh Joy, Sex Toy, was my main source of sex education growing up. Even to this day, the artistic pair educate me.
This comic book came out years after I needed it.
It’s a phenomenally inclusive book I wish I read during my school years.
Buy at: Better World Books®
By Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
Building off the judgment-free foundation from Vol.1, Vol.2 explores topics like sexual health, conception, pregnancy, abortion, menstruation, menopause, and testicular & breast exams. All through fantastic cartoons depicting all types of people, shapes, and sizes.
Another book added to my “the sex education I should have had in school” list.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
Co-authored by 50 contributors
Bump’n, the Australian company behind this fantastic book, has a goal: to create the “first line of sex toys for anyone with hand limitations”.
And they did: Bump’n Joystick!
But, Bump’n isn’t done.
Every book/e-book/audiobook purchased goes towards helping that goal.
So, not only will you read about people, disabilities, and sex, you’ll also support a landmark line of sex toys made specifically for folks with hand limitations.
You can also Fund an Orgasm for someone else! (One of How i Healthy’s Goals is to donate regularly!)
By at: Bump’n
By Kevin A. Patterson, M.ED.
This book. Yes.
While geared for polyamorous communities, the truths and advice laid out transcend them.
This is not a polyamory 101 guide. It’s a book about how Black people are, and are not, welcomed into predominantly white polyamory communities.
Through narratives of several authors, research, and anecdotes, Patterson exposes the intersection of racism and polyamory. And offers ideas on how to be more inclusive.
It’s an important read for community leaders and members alike. Polyamorous or not. My choir director could read this book and implement Patterson’s advice.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Joan Price
Price is over 70, has awesome sex, reviews sex toys, and dismantles the notion that sex diminishes as we age.
Sex After Grief takes a different focus than her typical work.
What do we do after losing a partner?
Many books offer guidance on grief, but many books ignore one critical piece. Sex.
From solo sex forever, to dating and hooking up, Price shows options for post-loss sex.
Through abundant compassion and non-judgmental prose, Price offers support to those who grieve and those who wish to date them.
It’s a hard question to think about: sex and love after losing a beloved. But, when faced with it, this book has some answers.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Iris Zink, BSN, MSN, ANP, RN-BC. & Jenny Thorn Palter & Kirsten Schultz
Another fantastic book added to the ever-growing (yet still small) collection of sex, disability, & chronic illness resources.
Despite the title though, this is an excellent resource for many folks, regardless of ability or health.
Zink presents clinical findings, statistical data, and advice that providers and patients can benefit from. Zink is determined to help folks have the sex they want, no matter what.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Betty Dodson, Ph.D.
This book is an ode to masturbation, both alone, and with partners.
It’s not a “how to” guide. It’s Dodson’s own sexual journey during a time when no one talked about sex, let alone masturbation.
It’s part memoir, part history book, and part self-help book. Dodson describes what sex in the 60s-80s felt like for many folks, including herself. Spoilers, it wasn’t what she wanted. This book is her journey to discovering the sex she wanted.
While reading about late 20th century sex feels otherworldly by today’s standards for some folks, Sex for One’s overarching theme of having the sex you want, loving your body, and understanding what your body loves, is timeless.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Dr. Wendy Troxel, PhD
Sleep is important.
And how we sleep looks different for each of us. Sometimes it’s with our partner(s). Sometimes it’s alone.
Clinical psychologist and behavioral sleep specialist, Dr. Troxel offers options.
Through non-judgmental questionnaires & checklists, Dr. Troxel helps co-sleepers start conversations about how to sleep better together. Or apart.
Chapters cover solutions for miss-matched sleeping patterns/habits, snoring, sleep disorders, baby disturbances, and how to determine if sleeping separate is right for you. And if it is, that’s okay!
This book is solution oriented. There’s lots of data, sure. But also, lots of useful take-ways and ideas to try individually and collaboratively with your partner(s).
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Jillian Weise
A work of poetry. And I mean that literally.
Weise is a poet.
She bares her sole through a collection of interwoven poems that reads like a narrative. This is not a “how-to” guide, despite the name. It’s a raw reflection of Weise’s experiences with ableism, disability, and sex through visceral word choices.
The 10th anniversary reprint edition has a fantastic introduction by Weise where she reexamines her work and its place in today’s world.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By JoEllen Notte
If you or your partner(s) experience depression, this book offers something no other book has.
Notte took two stigmatized topics, sexual and mental health, and erased the line between them. Through effortless prose, Notte weaves together research, data, interviews, and personal narrative.
The message is clear: Folks living with depression aren’t broken, and they can have sex they enjoy.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Jen Gunter, MD
Dr. Gunter separates medicine from pseudoscience for all things vulva and vagina.
Dr. Gunter also dismantles body-shaming stigmas held by both the medical community and Western culture.
Here’s a sampling of topics: Anatomy, orgasms, health concerns, STIs, sex, vulva and vaginas in transition, contraceptives, lube, periods, menopause, pregnancy, childbirth, self-care, product scams, and more.
I wish this was our textbook in health class.
Instead, I spent hours down the questionable tubes of the internet, shifting through misinformation, and learning nothing in sex-ed class.
Despite the reference quality of this book, it’s readable, witty, welcoming, and full of empowering information. Vaginas rejoice!
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Joan Price
Price is over 70 and loves dismantling the notion that older folks don’t have sex, let alone good sex.
As a person under the age of 50, I can say I still found this book useful.
And I’m glad I didn’t wait till I was older to read it. Covering all sorts of relationships and folks, Price offers a non-judgmental guide to satisfying sex. No matter your age, gender, or sexuality.
This book showed me my sex life isn’t doomed as I age. Yay!
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
By Miriam Kaufman, M.D., Cory Silverbery, & Fran Odette
As someone currently without a disability, I still found this guide full of important information.
The themes of listening to you & your partner(s) body, communicating needs & desires, and preparing your space for comfortable sex transcends folks of all abilities.
And, as the authors say: encompassing every disability in a single book isn’t possible, but rather it’s a guide to generate ideas and start conversations.
Buy at: Bookshop® or Better World Books®
And no worries, I’m a minimalist.
I won’t clutter your inbox.
And no worries, I’m a minimalist.
I won’t clutter your inbox.
