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Sex manuals are books which explain how to perform sexual practices; they also commonly feature advice on birth control, and sometimes on safe sex and sexual relationships. == Early sex manuals == In the Graeco-Roman era, a sex manual was written by Philaenis of Samos, possibly a hetaira (courtesan) of the Hellenistic period (3rd–1st century BC). Preserved by a series of fragmentary papyruses which attest its popularity, it served as a source of inspiration for Ovid's ''Ars Amatoria'', written around 3 BC, which is partially a sex manual, and partially a burlesque on the art of love. The ''Kama Sutra'' of Vatsyayana, believed to have been written in the 1st to 6th centuries, has a notorious reputation as a sex manual, although only a small part of its text is devoted to sex. It was compiled by the Indian sage Vatsyayana sometime between the second and fourth centuries CE. His work was based on earlier Kamashastras or ''Rules of Love'' going back to at least the seventh century BCE, and is a compendium of the social norms and love-customs of patriarchal Northern India around the time he lived. Vatsyayana's ''Kama Sutra'' is valuable today for his psychological insights into the interactions and scenarios of love, and for his structured approach to the many diverse situations he describes. He defines different types of men and women, matching what he terms "equal" unions, and gives detailed descriptions of many love-postures. The ''Kama Sutra'' was written for the wealthy male city-dweller. It is not, and was never intended to be, a lover's guide for the masses, nor is it a "Tantric love-manual". About three hundred years after the ''Kama Sutra'' became popular, some of the love-making positions described in it were reinterpreted in a Tantric way. Since Tantra is an all-encompassing sensual science, love-making positions are relevant to spiritual practice. Medieval sex manuals include the lost works of Elephantis, by Constantine the African; ''Ananga Ranga'', a 12th-century collection of Hindu erotic works; and ''The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation'', a 16th-century Arabic work by Sheikh Nefzaoui. The fifteenth-century ''Speculum al foderi'' (The Mirror of Coitus) is the first medieval European work to discuss sexual positions. Constantine the African also penned a medical treatise on sexuality, known as ''Liber de coitu''. The medieval Jewish physician and writer Maimonides is author of a ''Treatise on Cohabitation.'' 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「sex manual」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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