For fans of Dan Savage's column in The Stranger, the frank and mostly compassionate treatment of fetishes - and the fetishists themselves - will be nothing new. For everyone else, however, The Other Side of Desire is an illuminating, sometimes disturbing look into "deviant" sexual behavior. Through the eyes of four individuals - a foot fetishist, a rare female sadist, a pedophile stepfather and an amputee devotee - and various clinical professionals, Bergner elicits compassion from the reader for his subjects without reducing them to freak-show curiosities.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how he highlights the contrasts between parallel and intersecting trains of thoughts between the fetishists he interviews and the professionals - psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors - who treat (and study) them. We learn as much about the leader of the probation-mandated sex offender classes as we do about Roy, the stepfather in lust with his daughter, and find ourselves variously identifying with both.

In essence, then, The Other Side of Desire becomes a conversation between the subjects, the reader and the author himself about the nature of sexual desire. Although not a perfect book, it is a fascinating read.

Anyone with a willingness to step outside of their comfort zone, given the delicacy of the subject matter and the occasionally graphic descriptions, and an open mind will find Bergner's treatment of paraphilias educational and eye-opening.

The last chapter, which is the case history of the amputee devotee, is hands down the best in the book. In introducing us to Lisa, Ron's fiance, not only as an a DAK (double leg amputee above the knee) object of desire, but as a person with her own set of motivations and insecurities, Bergner finally manages to put a human face to what had otherwise been very interesting, but somewhat abstract, case studies. By humanizing the amputee paraphilia, he forces the reader to question basic cultural assumptions about paraphilias.

He is at his strongest when he lets his case studies speak for themselves. Unfortunately, Bergner has a tendency to allow his authorial voice free rein in ways that detract from the flow of narrative. There are far too many pages on sometimes interesting but mostly irrelevant details gleaned from his interviews with the various clinical professionals. The problem is that the competing who/what/why theories on the nature of paraphilias more often than not connect awkwardly if at all with the stories of the fetishists themselves. This slows the pace of reading considerably and lead me to skim at various points.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of The Other Side of Desire: Four Journeys into the Far Realms of Lust and Longing   from Amazon.Com!

Created Mar 31, 2010 at 11:03am • Submit your own review...