Madonna''s Sex Book

I was just looking at some Googled images from it. I was in college when it came out. \ \ I remember the buzz being that the book was too tame, but looking it now, it''s really not. There are photos of Madonna rimming a guy and some of a butch lesbian holding a knife to M''s vag. The photos are mannered but beautiful, and Madonna herself was beautiful, too. Almost flawless.\ \ This was Madonna''s best period IMO.

• Posts links OP

• The 90s Madonna is THE Madonna! She had REAL balls then! Yes, the book is tame, and it was even tame back then. HOWEVER, it was the FIRST time a star of Madonna's caliber did something like that. Now, everyone has a sex tape, everyone's vag is on display, etc. You have to keep that in mind, and then look at the book again, and remember the period in which it came out. It was outrageous. The horrible film she did at the time, "Body of Evidence", you should give a look. That thing is pretty shocking. Madonna does some pretty graphic sex scenes that still make me uncomfortable. There's a SEX "Making Of" video out there too. It was given out to only those who worked on the shoot. Someone leaked it. I believe there's different versions. I don't believe there was any sound, and the most famous one has French music piped in. Like she did with boy toy, Jesus Luz, she did the same thing with Vanilla Ice. She put her then lovers in her work. I can't believe she got away with the "sex with the young" entry in the book. Go read the book's entry on Wikipedia. Also, go on Youtube and look up interviews from 1992. It will really give you the feel of the era.

  Dita x

• Page-by-page

  http://www.beautifulmadonna.com/madonnasex/

  Not OP

• Full scans here too.

  http://www.madonna-online.ch/m-online/galleries/1992/92-10-21_sex/92-10-21_sex.htm

• Infamous Entertainment Weekly "Madonna hitchhiking nude" cover.

  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_yeiwBjhM8UU/ShMlf4aRGeI/AAAAAAAAA_s/9qcxLx2lnFY/s400/nov61992_143_lg.jpg

• If you ask me, the book was in dire need of more cawk!

• Madonna''s other lover, Tony Ward, is also in it.

  Tony Ward

• I dare anyone with an IQ of 70 or higher not to look at the pictures and snicker. The book is like a high-school junior''s idea of the big, bad, wicked world.

• She and Vanilla Ice were lovahs? I find that hard to believe.

• her Erotica video was shot at the same time. God I loved that time. the silver curtain was The Gaiety in NYC.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ0JXPSoNf4

• At one point you see a penis!

• Madonna''s Sex book, "has all the sex appeal of a body chart in a doctor''s office." - memorable line from a contemporaneous review. I can''t remember the reviewer''s name.%0D\ %0D\ Best line evah about "Sex" not least, of course, because it exactly captured my reaction to it.%0D\ %0D\ Still, I do agree, for the most part, with Ditax at r2.

  Della

• I have a copy of the book- I do not know why, I''ve never been much of a M fan. Is it collectible? My copy is falling out of its awkward binding.

• The pictures aren''t really hard-core pornography. But they aren''t "tame" either. The one where Madonna has her nose in a guy''s asshole always stands out for me. And the one where she''s partially naked in an old man''s lap, the implication being pedophilia (it seems that Madonna is trying to be a "little girl") or maybe incest. %0D\ %0D\ "Sex" is a very good example of Madonna''s compulsive, desperate need for attention and headlines. What famous person in their right mind would allow themselves to be photographed like that? Nobody but Madonna, that''s who.

• Then Janet tried to one-up Madonna at the Super Bowl....

  Ooops

• r14, you''re right. It''s page after page of desperation on display.

• [quote]I remember the buzz being that the book was too tame\ \ I remember the exact opposite. It was a huge controversy in the mainstream media and even some fans were turned off by it.

• [quote]"Sex" is a very good example of Madonna''s compulsive, desperate need for attention and headlines. What famous person in their right mind would allow themselves to be photographed like that? Nobody but Madonna, that''s who%0D\ %0D\ %0D\ And now that this attention whore has children of her own, she''s raising them like nuns/monks. She won''t even let them watch TV. Wonder how she''s spinning that book to them. What a hypocrite.%0D\ %0D\ It''ll suck for little Rocko when he gets to middle school and all his frienemies start plastering his locker with his mother''s nakid pics.

• Vanilla Ice is just NOW trying to get some PR out of this thing by calling it "slutty" and saying that he felt "used" by Madonna. Yeah, old Robby Van Wrinkle was never the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

• Show vadge, Madge, then accuse others of violating your privacy. Live out fantasies, then accuse others of projecting.%0D\ %0D\ Even in 1992 this glossy attempt at provocation felt tired. I was glad when she actually made some good music a little later on. Would love to see her do it again, but I''m not sure she is up to it anymore.

• "What famous person in their right mind would allow themselves to be photographed like that? Nobody but Madonna, that''s who."%0D\ %0D\ Correction: I CAN think of another famous person who would be in pictures like that. And that wretched individual is none other than Courtney Love. Both she and Madonna have an insatiable need to be noticed.

  R14

• It was incredibly silly. Madonna somehow gets cred for being "edgy" when, in reality, she''s just a Catholic high school girl who thinks that "naughty" words are funny.

• Wow, I never saw the pics, but I gotta say I found the whole thing to be anti-erotic. Not a turn on at all.

• Actually, even though the photos do not depict anything particularly graphic by today''s standards, there is a certain unsettling and lurid quality to them. It''s her narrative that accompanies them that I find silly and childish. She should''ve just let it remain a photo collection and it would''ve worked much better as such.\ \ Even though it was, in retrospect, a misguided adventure I can''t help but give her props for doing it.

• [quote]I have a copy of the book- I do not know why, I''ve never been much of a M fan. Is it collectible? My copy is falling out of its awkward binding.\ \ Collectible in mint condition. Yours is worthless.

• I just looked at them, too. My problem is that I don''t find Madonna''s body attractive in those photos. Not to mention the face. And I think sexuality doesn''t come naturally to her, she is not ''sexy,'' so it all feels forced.

• I prefer pictures of interesting or/and attractive people.

• Joey Stefano was the hotness.

• [quote]Correction: I CAN think of another famous person who would be in pictures like that. And that wretched individual is none other than Courtney Love. Both she and Madonna have an insatiable need to be noticed.\ \ don''t forget me!!!!

  S. Palin

• Madonna''s narratives in the Sex book were funny. I remember one was about anal sex and how good it was "because all your nerve endings are in your ass" and the story about her fucking a Puerto Rican teenager who lived in her building and how he gave her crabs. Good times.

• [quote]Madonna''s other lover, Tony Ward, is also in it%0D\ %0D\ But, he didn''t look hot in the book. All shaved bald and tattooed, caring on with other men. Really!

• [quote]and the story about her fucking a Puerto Rican teenager who lived in her building and how he gave her crabs. Good times.%0D\ %0D\ Ewwww, nasty woman.

  Cheryl

• I agree, kind of boring. I will say this, Madonna has a great set of natural tits and she does look beautiful in many of the pics. This was definitely her peak for me, I knew she was a media slut with a bad case of Catholic girl syndrome but I really didn''t care. She was pissing people off, and it was fun, so was she. It was downhill from 92 on.

• Just to give a little perspective...\ \ Can you imagine Beyonce, Katy Perry, Britney Spears or even Lady GaGa doing something even remotely as fabulous as Madonna back in the "Erotica" period?\ \ *crickets*

• I actually thought it was Brian Austin Greene instead of Vanilla Ice.

• "At one point you see a penis!%0D\ %0D\ In the video? At what point?

• Nude photos of Madonna had already come out from when she was an artist''s model. I think she decided to take the matters into her hands and out do them from her point of view, style and profit. Plus, she was a pioneer in working all of the mediums: her book came out when her movie did, when her album Erotica did. One interview, three things to cross promote. That just wasn''t the way the media did things back then. As much as I love a lot of her music, I think her true genius is in her understanding how to market.

• I love those old pics of Madge when she was a kid who just moved to NY. Her muff is HUGE and wiry and she has a mustache. And I agree, she has perfect tits circa ''92.

• Madonna has always been a bit delusional about her image. She mistakenly thought people were "pissed off" at her when really they were just rolling their eyes. What an egomaniac to assume people gave a damn about her "shocking" shenanigans--enough to be angry at her for being such a bad, bad girl. Maybe it''s all that catholic school girl guilt and paranoia.%0D\ %0D

• I remember mainstream bookstores stocking it behind the counter. You had to ask the cashier for a demo copy if you even wanted to look at it before purchasing.

• It was a big deal when it came out. There was no internet porn back then. If u wanted to see skin it was magazines or films. So for the fly over fraus it was scandalous \ \ \ I remember when the Vanessa Williams pic where published now that was a big scandal. I worked for a very conserative company and I remember people bringing in the magazine and sneaking peeks

  Oldster

• Is Isabella Rossalini in the book? And yeah, that did look like Brian Austin Greene.

• it was sealed in mylar that you had to bite off

• Much like Madonna herself, r43

• How much is an unopened, still-in-the-silver-wrapper copy of the book worth?

• I dunno r45, but when our last local bookstore was going out of business about a dozen years ago, there were a few copies of the book in the 75% off bin that I should have bought and tucked away. I was so over Madonna by then I never even thought it might be a collectors item one day.

• GROSS

  Everyone born after 1993

• The plastic coiled ring binder things (what the fuck are they called) all disintegrate because of the metal covers. Therefore the books are a novelty but will not last the test of time. I''d think a sealed Sex would still have value. \ \ The used books? Not so much!

• Yes, Isabella Rossalini is in the book, as is Naomi Campbell, whose mother disowned her after it came out.\ \ The book is incredibly valuable if unopened. The entire first printing was sold out. It came with a comic book, and a CD. \ \ When it was the 10th anniversary in 2002, there was word that Warner Bros. wanted to re-release the book but Madonna turned them down. This was during her Guy Ritchie, I''m spiritual, Earth mother, British phase. Now that she''s a whore again, I could see her re-releasing it next year for its 20th anniversary. I would bet she would even do an Afterward photoshoot for the thing. She and Steven Meisel are back working together again.

• [italic]Madonna has always been a bit delusional about her image. She mistakenly thought people were "pissed off" at her when really they were just rolling their eyes.[/italic]\ \ No, honey. The Right was going ape shit over her, especially since their young children were fans. She actually did really piss people off, and there was an outcry.

• Madonna really did go in public and took off her clothes. There were many calls to the police, trying to have her arrested.

• [italic]And now that this attention whore has children of her own, she''s raising them like nuns/monks. She won''t even let them watch TV. Wonder how she''s spinning that book to them. What a hypocrite.[/italic]\ \ Actually, it''s a good thing. She''s alluded to her wanting to create the environment she had that she ultimately rebelled against. I also don''t think she wants to have a bunch of drug addicts as her kids. She doesn''t want the negative publicity. Lola is turning into a skank.

• Madonna did an exclusive shoot for Vanity Fair during the era, and it is "child porn" inspired. Pretty sick.

  http://www.queenmadonna.com/gallery/shoot/1992/vanity9.jpg

• Ingrid Casares was Madonnas big love at the time.

• [quote]Madonna did an exclusive shoot for Vanity Fair during the era, and it is "child porn" inspired. Pretty sick.\ \ Looks more like 60s kitsch to me.

• [quote]It was a big deal when it came out. There was no internet porn back then. If u wanted to see skin it was magazines or films. So for the fly over fraus it was scandalous%0D\ %0D\ It is amazing how Internet porn changed society.

• "Mommy, why are you rimming Vanilla Ice"

  rocco

• Word to your mother:

  http://www.morethings.com/music/madonna/sex-book-madonna-121.jpg?iact=hc&vpx=124&vpy=46&dur=4371&hovh=263&hovw=191&tx=87&ty=138&ei=tQ4uTZKWBoOclgfD4ZmyCQ&oei=tQ4uTZKWBoOclgfD4ZmyCQ&esq=1&page=1&tbnh=141&tbnw=102&start=0&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

• [quote]I remember when the Vanessa Williams pic where published now that was a big scandal. I worked for a very conserative company and I remember people bringing in the magazine and sneaking peeks.\ \ Our neighborhood drugstore used to keep the girlie mags behind the counter, and my granny (RIP) sauntered in one day and politely requested to see that issue of [italic]Penthouse.[/italic] In her mid-70s at the time, she tried to feign outrage and horror but just ended up chuckling as she perused VW''s beef curtains and the hot gal-on-gal action.

• surely Vanilla Ice was over by 1992?

• I still have Madonna''s Sex Book with the silver wrapper. Unfortunately, a former bf drew moustaches on Madonna''s photos. What a bitch!

• Vanilla Ice was pretty hot in those photos. Now, he''s a tattoo mess.

• Udo Keir!

• The best thing about this book was an SNL skit with Phil Hartman playing Charlton Heston who is recording the audio version of the book. \ \ Just remembering Hartman saying (in a Heston voice): "I like my pussy. Sometimes I stare at it in the mirror when I''m undressing and wonder what it would look like without any hair like when I was a baby."\ \ Fucking hysterical.

• Her nipples are SO SMALL. \ \ She suffers from a dreaded case of tinynip. \ \ the funniest thing in the book is the look of abject horror on Naomi Campbell''s face as Madonna kisses her in the three-way. \ \ It''s painfully obvious that Miss Naomi doesn''t swing that way.

• The Phil Hartman as Charlton Heston skit was hilarious. I remember it well.

• Wasn''t it, R66? \ \ Actually, if I remember, Phil said "I like my vagina." I took the pussy quote right from the book, but I can still hear Phil and how he pronounced "vagina".

  R64

• "It looks like she''s whipping a group of young naked boys while wearing a formal."%0D\ %0D\ I still remember this line from Hartman''s skit and how I howled. He was so damn funny.

  r66

• Boooring.%0D\ Why did she use bulldykes?? (and iam a lesbian btw)

• Check out the shot of Naomi with her face between Madonna''s legs. Someone over-did the airbrushing, and Naomi''s butt crack is SEALED SHUT! Always cracked me up. Also, agreed: she looks completely uncomfortable in the 3-way shot.

• Found it!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isFf3t_4Zbk

  R64

• The problem with Sex was that Madonna set out to be shocking and outrageous instead of wanting to make great photographs. I can only remember a few pictures that were any good. The rest was Madonna trying to shock.

• There was no great scandal during the "Erotica" period. In fact, it was one of her weakest popularity periods. %0D\ %0D\ MTV made a big fuss over only playing the video at midnight. And even the hype around that was nowhere comparable to "Justify My Love". I don''t ever recall the song even being played on radio.%0D\ %0D\ In fact, the album was considered a flop, which led her to release the more commercial and safe "Bedtime Stories". %0D\ %0D\ The message at the time was that Madonna was wearing thin and people were over her shocking antics. The sex book and the runway incident where she stutted around with her tits hanging out were greeted with a collective yawn by many.

• There is rumored to be a sex tape of Liz Taylor and Richard Burton. Supposedly, it shows Liz being punched and abused by Burton during sex.

• GLAAAD-iatooorrrr.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdM4_BRNuBk

  La Liz

• Anyone else remember Jukebox TV? You could call into the channel and order any video you wanted to see and they would play the unedited version - eventually.\ \ I remember being a young gay and calling in and requesting "Justify my Love," to see the naked people, especially the guys. I remember doing the same for REM''s "Night Swimming" just to see the naked guys skinny dip in the pool. \ \ And no one recognizes the black guy in the three way shoot? It''s Big Daddy Kane.

• On Amazon, an unopened copy of the English edition sells from a low of $229.00 all the way up to $2500.00 (!!!), depending on the seller.\ \ And the VF shoot referenced earlier was not inspired by child porn. In fact, the Village Voice showed that the shots were direct recreations of vintage shots from Playboy, even to the point of imitating the look of color film from the 1960s. The VV printed some VF shots side-by-side with the Playboy originals.

• r53, it was Lolita-inspired.

• I had been a fan up til this point. It just seemed desperate and tired and, to be blunt, stupid as shit. As a fan, I had forked over--what was it? $50--to buy my idol''s first book of photographs. I had envisioned something artistic and erotic, as so many of her previous pictorials in VF and Vogue and a few others had been. Instead I got an essay featurung the still-hysterical (albeit unintentionally) line: My pussy is my temple of learning.%0D\ %0D\ I have never respected her again and have only been able to mock her and thank God I lost interest in her right before I hit my 20''s. Say what you want about her being a "genius" and a "smart businessperson"--she''s got the artistic credibility of a piece of shit crapped out by John Boehner after eating too much dairy.

• I felt that Madonna didn''t need to do the "Sex Book" because she already released a very good CD when "Erotica" was released. Though, Madonna looked beautiful in her photos, the pictures were kind of gross, but the men were hot.

• [quote]I still have Madonna''s Sex Book with the silver wrapper. Unfortunately, a former bf drew moustaches on Madonna''s photos. What a bitch%0D\ %0D\ OMG, that was kind of shitty. Your book would be worth a mint if he didn''t ruin the photos. I still have mine (with the silver wrapper), but can''t find it.

• "Erotica" was a very good album that unfortunately got overshadowed by the "Sex" book.

• [quote]The book is incredibly valuable if unopened. The entire first printing was sold out. It came with a comic book, and a CD%0D\ %0D\ I have the first printing (complete with CD and Comic Book), but mine is open, but I still have the wrapping.

• If she hadn''t shown her pussy, she still might be a star.%0D\ %0D\ A girl has to hold a little something back.

• Yeah, true.

• I remember when the book came out but I never saw the pictures. It was considered very shocking. \ \ Now when I see them they are quite pornographic but at the same time a bit lame... What was the point? More attention? I think people started getting a bit tired of her then. Her "Erotica" single wasn''t a great hit.\ \ She''s got great tits, though.

• Thief of Hearts should have been a single. The way "Dark Lady" was a hit for Cher.\ \ Smacking my gum as I type.

• R86, me too. When it first came out I was all more power to her, she is so daring. Now it''s just kind of lame and desperate attempt at attention.

• She copied the idea off an old French sex book...big deal but of course she got credit for being sexually daring...

• there were no penises

• It was a big deal and yes it was shocking for the time. As someone said above, it was before the internet and there were no "reality" stars releasing sex tapes. The book came in a sealed mylar bag but it was also in a box. Getting the unopened bag now is hard but the unopened bag and box go for big bucks. The video, and pic in the book with Udo Kier were shot at the now demolished Gaiety gay porn emporium in NY. The video was banned from MTV and it was the first music video sold as a single on VHS. A whole VHS tape for a three minute video and it sold too. The Gaiety had a surge of customers for a while hoping to catch a glimpse of Madonna who was rumored to visit once in while, but was actually there to approve the location before filming. This was one of the biggest stars in the world naked for the world to see. And Vanilla Ice wasn't a lover, he was asked to pose and he did but regretted it when he had kids.

• Exactly, R91. For the time, it was a big deal. I think people who are criticizing it as cheesy or desperate aren't putting it into context. It wasn't a time when we were exposed to this type of material on a daily basis thru HBO, the 'net, etc. For better or worse, Madonna helped change the cultural landscape. How many pop stars and their managers emulated Madge because they learned overt sex and provocation sell? You think that fact was lost on the people who put Britney in a school girl's uniform and sexed her up? Argue all you want, but you have to admit that on some level, Madge pushed boundaries and helped open doors. It's manipulation that works both ways - you love it and you love her for it, or you hate it and you hate her for it. She knew what she was doing.

• "She and Vanilla Ice were lovahs? I find that hard to believe" Why is that hard to believe? Madonna used to fuck the truly repulsive Dennis Rodman. We're talking about MADONNA, hon. Is there anyone in the world that she wouldn't fuck? I don't think so.

• There were pics of a HOT beefy italian guy, a dancer from The Gaiety. He was in leather underwear IIRC. God what a stud. After the book was published, a few us went to The Gaiety looking for him. Was nowhere to be found.

• She had terrible taste in men, didn't she? Guy Ritchie was the best she's ever done, and he learned to hate her. She should get with some older, unattractive billionaire like Salma Hayek did. Let herself be taken care of for a few years.

• [quote]Her muff is HUGE and wiry and she has a mustache. Young Demi's bush is huger and wirier. It's something to behold.

  http://www.addictedtocelebrities.com/nude/demi-moore/

• Honey, Madonna's best periods stopped years ago.

  Mena Pause

• I still adore him:

  http://youtu.be/53TZ8oVT_E8

• R92 plenty of female entertainers used "sex sells" as a means for success...she's hardly original in that category. Also, what she did was show that aspiring entertainers who lacked real talent could still make it big because the public is so stupid (Shitney Schmears I'm looking at you). Is that something to be proud of?

• Sex and Erotica came across as desperate and contrived. I grew up during her heyday and this those 2 projects were the first time she truly came across as the attention seeking whore she'd always been accused of. To make matters worse the album and book weren't that good. Someone who worked at a book company, I think it was Judith Regan, said she met Madonna and pitched a similar book concept to her but was rejected. Madonna took the idea and ran with it.

• R95, the last thing Madonna needs is someone to take care of her. Bitch is the cockroach of celebrity. Disgusting, squirmy, and impossible to kill.

• Madonna was way ahead of the culture with that book. To this day the book would still be considered shocking if a major female emtertainer did it. At the time of it's release it was the fastest selling book in HISTORY and sold out it's original print run of 1.5 million copies. Warners and Madonna could have made more money by reprinting the book but decided given the extreme backlash at the time that it wasn't a good idea. As for the Erotica album it's actually one of her best but was a dissapointing seller only selling 6 million worldwide numbers that in 92/93 most artists would kill for but by Madonna's record breaking standards were below average. One of the things I've always loved about Madonna was how much she changes between albums listen to True Blue in 1986 it's all fifties pop sounds and I love Sean Penn type of music and then listen to Erotica 6 years later it's very edge bitter and angry sounding and Madonna plays a character called Dita Parlo throughout the album the album also featured the sound of "sleaze" an up and coming sound populated from gay culture that never really took off. It was risky and uncommercial. The same kind of artistic growth cannot be said of someone like Taylor Swift where it's the same "breakup" shit album after album. It's like OK we get it!

  anonymous%20

• Holy run-on sentence Batman

• "I remember having periods!" - Madonna

• I still have mine with the silver wrapping included, it has some very hot men and Madonna looked her best.

• Agree Madonna's albums are stylistically different but it's because she always hires new producers-songwriters. Taylor Swift is a hack, can't write a decent melody to save her homely soul.

• Have to agree with r106.

• Madonna's sex book was not only a rip off of an old French sex book from the early 1900s, but was a desperate act of famewhoring at its best. Her poor kids have encountered or will have to encounter other people coming up to them and making fun of them about this. Who wants to see a parent in a sex book? As for her ever-changing style...well DUH. She has to change because she has no talent. She relies on different sounds and images to make up for her lack of talent. It's her way of covering her ass.

• Not a huge Madonna fan here, but if that bitch is not the fiercest pop diva of the 20th century, then I don't know who is. Remember, kids, this book was pre-Internet and very much shocking to people who did not bury their face in porn on a daily basis. Even if she is deserving of her criticisms, she changed convention on an annual basis, and at one point had the world at her feet. Not bad for a middle class chick from the midwest.

• [quote]if that bitch is not the fiercest pop diva of the 20th century, then I don't know who is Ahem

  Janet

• A very tacky book. I hope she paid the models well that populated her sexual colonialism; Madonna with butch dykes; Madonna getting fake raped; Madonna playing hooker with a cigarette, Madonna the tourist in the glamorous world of sexual minorities. It was a book about the imagined tour of Madonna's pussy, which from that point it has always been about. Bowie is one of her inspirations, who played the Ziggy Stardust character who "sucked up into his mind". Madonna sucked up into her own puss like a girl gone wild.

• What R17 said. I'm not sure what crowd you were running with, OP, but the mainstream media went nuts and the general population was shocked. Even many fans were put off by it. And who is the idiot gayling shocked that she fucked Vanilla Ice? She fucked EVERYONE.

• It was a great book! And yes, absolutely a novelty, for a megastar to be doing something like this. It doesn't matter how many niche French photographers had been doing similar shots in the 1920s. The biggest star in the world forcing something like this on an unsuspecting public was UNHEARD OF. It was new, it was shocking, and she took a major risk with it It would be a risk today, and it was an even bigger risk back then. The pics are arresting, and she looks beautiful in most of them. Great memories!

• As pathetic as Jim Morrison flopping his dick out onstage

• The book was supposed to look like a big condom in a foil condom wrapper. That's why the foil Mylar was used.