Routledge Magnificent Sex: Lessons from Extraordinary Lovers

Winner of the 2021 SSTAR Consumer Book Award! What makes sex magnificent? What are the qualities of extraordinary erotic intimacy and what are the elements that help to bring it about? Is great sex the stuff that people remember nostalgically from the "honeymoon" phase of their relationships, or can sex improve over time? Magnificent Sex is based on the largest, in-depth interview study ever conducted with people who are having extraordinary sex. It gathers the nuggets for remarkable sex from the "experts", distilling them into an attainable blueprint for ordinary lovers who want to make erotic intimacy grow over the course of a lifetime. Looking at factors including individual and relational qualities, empathic communication and the myths and realities of magnificent sex, this book offers accessible and evidence-based guidance for lovers and therapists alike. It is replete with frank and often humorous interviews with straight and LGBTQ individuals and couples, those who are "vanilla" and "kinky", monogamous and consensually non-monogamous and healthy and chronically ill. This illuminating book explores the implications of the findings to develop a model that effectively tackles the common problems of low desire and frequency. The "cure" for low desire is to create desirable sex! Review "With empirical rigor and a playful sense of humor, Kleinplatz and Ménard offer us a grand tour of a previously undocumented world where extraordinary lovers create magnificent sexual experiences. Every sex therapist, educator, researcher, and student should read this book. It will utterly transform the conversation around sexual desire." – Emily Nagoski, author of Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life. "This is IT finally, a refreshing real book discussing the nature of magnificent sex! And this book actually sees sex as a relational dance, not one person’s bodily function! The book is easy to read and goes beyond formulas, tips and tricks to discuss topics like empathy which so often are missing in so-called sex books. This is where the field of sex therapy needs to go. The lovers in this book tell us how we often settle for being stuck in clichés and so called symptoms and miss the symphony the great sex can be." – Sue Johnson, EdD, researcher, professor, and bestselling author of Hold Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. "This is a wonderful book! Taking the focus off of ‘sex’ and ‘sexual function’ tricks and techniques, it will provide an invaluable resource for those looking to truly improve the quality of their relationships and their experience of sex." – Daniel N. Watter, EdD, past president, The Society for Sex Therapy and Research (SSTAR) "Peggy Kleinplatz has achieved near mythical status in the echelons of sex therapy. For nearly two decades she has been leading the Optimal Sexual Experiences Research Team at the University of Ottawa and carefully protecting their work from outside eyes. Along the way, they have teased and tantalized us with breadcrumbs of insight from their detailed study of actual couples who embody and manifest the eight components of magnificent sex; but now, finally, Kleinplatz and Ménard have given us the secret sauce, and it was worth the wait!" – Ian Kerner, Ph.D., LMFT, NY Times best-selling author, She Comes First. "Would you like to have good sex? What about great sex? Or, even better, what about the greatest sexual experience of your life? Kleinplatz and Ménard dive into their incredible research on peak sexual experiences, and distill valuable lessons to help you to discover your potential for sexual ecstasy. This isn't a cookbook style sex manual - it's a guide to creating sexual authenticity in your life, in a way that translates into heights of sexual fulfillment." – David Ley, Ph.D., licensed clinical psychologist and AASECT Certified Sex Therapist & Supervisor "Kleinplatz and Ménard have conducted ex