Toying With Jamye Waxman

East Coast intellectual Jamye Waxman follows Nina Hartley into the thicket of Women Explaining Sex to You in her first instructional video for Adam & Eve, "Toying with Pleasure". The formula is similar to Hartley's, with game porn star guests dropping by to put in practice what Waxman has just explained. Waxman is friendly and unself-conscious, tossing off words like "frenulum" in a voice that combines Dissertation Defense with Late Night Smooth Jazz DJ.

Join us after the gap. (And don't forget your frenulum.)

Adam & Eve chose well with Waxman, who is not afraid to be goofy and who, unlike Hartley, does not participate in the action. Waxman also does not hover awkwardly by while porn stars like Syren, Mia Smiles, and Veronica Rayne provide the lab to Waxman's lecture; not that that would, in this case, be unpleasant, but there is a reason porn stars were brought in, and keeping things separate makes for a better movie.

Real-life couples were used as much as possible, and the effect of this first instructional video in Adam & Eve's "Personal Touch" series is a friendlier one as a result. Waxman keeps things light and kudos to folks like Syren who amiably listen to Waxman as the latter gives pointers about pleasing one's partner. The video does feel a little bit like an infomercial now and then, and we are surprised that Mia Smiles doesn't exclaim "And what else can a flogger do?"

Waxman's 101 course includes primers on safewords, washing one's Cyberskin dildo (cornstarch! who knew?), why flared bases are essential to anal toys, and why strap-ons are great for everybody. But remember: "Butt plugs are not the only option for your ass."

Informative without being too talky, and taking every opportunity to show rather than tell, "Toying with Pleasure" is so much more forward thinking than when my parents sent me to that glory hole.

· Adam & Eve (adameve.com)

· Buy "Toying with Pleasure" (gamelink.com)

Previously: Education Archive