Ever since I first slid wrist-deep into the warm wet suck of someone's hungry cunt, I've loved fisting. There's nothing in the world like seeing someone impaled on your arm, their pussy wrapped hot and tight around your clenched fist. Deborah Addington's A Hand in the Bush: The Fine Art of Vaginal Fisting captures the experience admirably well. Addington manages to convey both the mundane and the awe-inspiring, the fetishistic and the wantonly physical, in language that is at once straightforward and sensual. However, while it contains a full chapter of personal accounts and plenty of rapturous descriptions, Hand in the Bush is no mere ode to the act. It also serves as a fine instruction manual for those new to fisting, and a sexy little reminder for those already familiar with the basics.

Fittingly enough, Addington packs a lot into this slim volume, with instructive and accessible sections on anatomy, safety, and the in-and-outs of how to insert one's whole hand into a willing hole. Interspersed with the informative text are loads of line drawings, which some of you might find playful and informative; aside from the anatomical diagrams, I was surprised to find the illustrations more corny than hot. There is a great sensitivity throughout to folks' various desires and experiences around fisting, including those who have had less-than-positive experiences with the act. This strikes me as a necessary approach in the genre of sex books, so I was pleased to see the deftness with which Addington handled the diversity of meanings and emotions that can attach to heavy penetration.

Nonetheless, I was a little disappointed by the book as a whole. First and foremost, Addington assumes throughout that the only people who can be fisted (aside from anally) are women, an oversight which entirely ignores a slew of people with cunts who aren't women (such as transsexual men, female-to-male vectored transpeople, genderqueers, and butches who don't ID as women, to name a few.) As a transguy who would like to be on the receiving end some day, it made reading the book a little tough for me.

Which leads me to the second point: while Hand in the Bush does contain some useful information on how to strengthen and control the PC muscles and vaginal sphincter, it doesn't give much else in the way of tips for the person getting fisted (the "fistee") aside from the usual spiel about relaxation and plenty of lube. This is the other major flaw in this otherwise fine book, so allow me to offer some supplemental info. One of the best tips I've ever come across is courtesy of Susie Bright, who suggests performing perineal massage as a way to condition the cunt to accept a fist. You can instructions for perineal massage easily online, though most of it is targeted at pregnant women. The basic gist is to insert both thumbs into the cunt, pressing down on the perineal side of the opening and drawing the thumbs slowly back and forth in an arc. This exercise makes the tissue there more elastic, and is a great way to condition the body for fisting. In fact, after performing perineal massage fairly diligently for a couple weeks, I was able to fist fuck myself-- so it's highly recommended.

In short, if you approach Addington's book armed, as it were, with an open mind and a little extra information, you'll find it a delightful guide into one of my personal favorite sexual activities ever.