From Ben-Was to Bedroom Athletics

TWO other books about sex, both now riding the bestseller lists, differ as widely as--well, man and woman. Unlike Human Sexual Inadequacy, both are emphatically nontechnical works that make no claim to scholarship or original research.

Psychiatrist David Reuben's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) might better be titled More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex* (*Because You Didn't Know What to Ask). Using a question-and-answer technique, the author tours every inch of the sexual landscape, from abortion to "September sex." And then some. Who but Reuben, for instance, would dream of inquiring: "What's a ben-waT (A self-stimulating device used by Japanese women.) Or, "Do fetishists get married?" (They do.) Reuben wrote his book, he says, because "in virtually every patient, I see a person living in the Space Age who has left his (or her) sexual organs in the Stone Age." It must be a good reason, since Everything (David McKay; $6.95) has sold nearly 400,000 copies since its publication last November.

Reuben manages to convey enough common sense to make the book at least episodically informative. He reflects a matter-of-fact permissiveness about sexuality, and straightforwardly attacks a variety of common myths. But the book has probably infuriated as many readers as it has enlightened. "Human destiny," writes the author at one point, "is constant, relentless copulation"--unintentionally implying that sex is almost a reflex function, like bowel movement. Elsewhere, Reuben suggests that Coke is "the best douche available." REUBEN

He also compares ejaculation to a missile launching into outer space--adding, jauntily, that the sexual launching is into "inner space." This too-calculated irreverence and tasteless tone undermine Reuben's attempt to inform.

The other sexual bestseller, The Sensuous Woman, by "J" (Lyle Stuart; $6), reads like a put-on. It probably isn't. Purportedly addressed to women, the book is a do-it-yourself guide to sexual fulfillment. As one step toward achieving orgasm, it recommends masturbation "to your heart's content"--advice that the author claims to have followed herself. Behind the pseudonymous "J" is Missouri-born Joan Garrity, 31, who has worked in public relations for several Manhattan publishing firms.

Miss Garrity's objective in writing the book, beyond the money in it (85,000 copies sold), was to persuade women no prettier than herself ("I have heavy thighs, lumpy hips, protruding teeth, a ski-jump nose, poor posture, flat feet, and uneven ears") that being unattractive is no obstacle in the sex game. Her rules for playing it are inventive, to say the least. Among other things, she invites her readers to fantasize "being ravished by a tiger," to keep a sex diary ("briefly rate your sexual response as superb, good, indifferent or lousy"), and to "train like an athlete for the act of love." To that end, she urges female readers: "Learn to move your pelvis and behind as if they were loaded with ball bearings."

From such advice--in fact, from the book's concentration 2 on the acrobatics of sex--the reader might conclude that w sex is a controlled form of muscular combat, akin to pro Football

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