The Kama Sutra, Reimagined for Our Times

The Kama Sutra, that ancient Hindu text regarding the art of pleasure is a timeless, if a little strange, guide that continues to educate through the centuries. Today, that guide is updated with the release of Simon Rich and Farley Katz’s The Married Kama Sutra, which puts the sacred erotic text in context with our times.

From “the waltz of sloths” to “the interrupted congress,” this book illustrates the lives of contemporary married couples as they strive to keep the spark alive — and the dishwasher properly loaded, as the authors joke. The text is filled with such jokes, as well as illustrations in the style of the original Kama Sutra — updated to include modern, domestic phenomena: gadgets, pharmaceuticals, wine by the box, and overparenting.

It is utterly demoralizing.

To get the sour taste of contemporary marriage out of your mouth, try this excerpt from original Kama Sutra on a woman’s pleasure:

The wife of a man who has difficulty in making her reach orgasm becomes hostile to him. Thus it is that, from a certain point of view, a woman’s love or indifference is connected with the man’s possibility of making her reach orgasm. This is why the man who pleases women is the one who gives them complete pleasure, and not the contrary. A woman’s desire does not stop when she has reached orgasm. She experiences continual enjoyment. Her need for a man continues even when the itching of her clitoris has been calmed, which is why her need for signs of affection (kissing and caressing) is independent of her desire for enjoyment.

You can find a few more here.