Anyone remember THE MANACLED MORMON?
This is the only real reference that I can find now, mixed up with some news of a sex manual:
Mormons discover the joy of sex, but only with a spouse |
By JAMES LANGTON in New York
The staid reputation of the deeply conservative Mormon Church has been shaken by the publication of a best-selling sex manual.
Thousands of copies of the guide have been flying off shelves at bookshops in the church's heartland of Utah and Salt Lake City. After selling out twice in a month, a third edition has been published.
The guide is so popular it has edged out the latest book from church President, Gordon Hinckley - normally a guaranteed chart topper. Its only other rival is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Modestly titled Between Husband and Wife (polygamy is no longer permitted), the book gives advice on maintaining a fulfilling sex life, examines sexual problems and even recommends Viagra for impotence.
While avoiding the graphic illustrations and anatomical descriptions used in classic manuals like Alex Comfort's Joy of Sex, the book is a frank attempt to address the sexual problems of members of the Church of Latter-day Saints, as Mormons are more properly known.
The authors, Douglas Brinley, a professor of church history at Brigham Young University, and Stephen Lamb, a local doctor, write: "Church members are searching for answers to questions about sexual matters."
Church leaders have been concerned by the divorce rate within the LDS, which, although small compared with the rest of the population, has been increasing.
Mormons prohibit sex before marriage.The church's most notorious sex-related case was Joyce McKinney, a Wyoming beauty queen who, in 1978, was accused of kidnapping a 21-year-old Mormon missionary and shackling him to a bed in an attempt to become pregnant.
Her trial revealed the existence of a previously unknown garment - Mormon chastity underwear - that helped to preserve the young missionary's virtue.
At the other extreme is the Osmond family, an image of Mormon fecundity whose members include the singers Donny and Marie, as well as Little Jimmy who now has a family of his own.
The church claims to be the fastest-growing in the world, with 10 million members.
The book, subtitled Gospel Perspectives on Marital Intimacy, uses quotes from Mormon teachings along with descriptions of the human body and general advice on marital and sexual harmony.
It expandeds on existing Mormon literature that tells couples they should: "Understand that sexual relations within marriage are divinely approved not only for the purpose of procreation, but also as a means of expressing love and strengthening emotional and spiritual bonds between husband and wife."
After an initial print of 6,000 disappeared within days, the publishers, Covenant Books, added a second run of 20,000 and when that sold out last month, doubled it again. The book is available through the Internet bookseller Amazon and has made the top ten of American spiritual best sellers.
One reader reflected that she: "Wished I had read the book before I got married." Another woman said she had spent six months in counseling with her husband but solved the couple's problems almost overnight after buying a copy and making him read it to her.
Professor Brinley and Dr Lamb say they want Mormon couples to lose any guilty feelings they might have about sex, while accepting that many church members may be inexperienced in such matters when they get married.
They caution, however, that the book will prove a disappointment for those readers seeking the sensational. "The book is not a sex manual or a "how to' book," says Professor Brinley.
"There are no pictures or diagrams. The premise for the book is that your spouse is your best sex manual."
The Sunday Telegraph
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