I was looking forward to receiving The Ultimate Guide to Adult Videos|The Ultimate Guide To Adult Videos, by Violet Blue, because my experience with porn is limited and I wanted more information before just diving in.  This book not only provides reassurance for those of us hesitant about watching porn, but it is also extremely informative about the industry and the types of movies available.  It is a great reference book, but seems more geared towards the porn newcomer than the experienced porn watcher.

Chapter 1: A Sex Toy Like No Other explores the realities of porn – who’s watching it, why it’s arousing, common fantasy themes.  This chapter focuses on dispelling the myths and stereotypes surrounding porn, and shows that there’s nothing wrong with enjoying porn.

Chapter 2: How to Watch Porn presents the different ways of enjoying porn, whether alone (there is a lot of encouragement for masturbation) or with a partner.  There are great tips about approaching a partner who may be reluctant to watch porn.

Chapter 3: Get the Porn You Want reviews topics such as renting versus buying, awards for porn films, and DVD versus VHS (which dates the book).

Chapter 4: A Porn Primer discusses the different genres and types of porn.  This chapter was particularly useful, because it explains the difference between gonzo and wall-to-wall, as well as lesbian and all-girl.  I felt better equipped to make a choice, because I now knew what the different terms meant.

Chapter 5: Common Concerns About Content covers topics like “Does Porn Degrade Women?” and “Questions of Age and Consent.”  I found this chapter particularly useful in dissuading any fears or worries I had concerning the women who are led to participate in porn.

Chapters 6-11 cover six genres of film including director information and movie reviews (there are over 300 reviews) for each genre: Feature Films, The Classics, All Sex/No Plot, S/M Features, Educational Videos, and Lesbian, All-Girl, Bisexual, and Gay Features.  Blue presents her own icon system used in the film reviews, some of which are quite amusing: “Unsightly boob jobs.  One or more actress have obviously fake breasts.  You may see visible scars, rippling under the skin, unrounded shapes, or ‘frozen’ breasts.”  I found these reviews to be incredibly useful and often humorous.

Chapter 12: Safer Sex in Porn discusses the history of STDs in the porn industry and the changes that have been made to help keep the actors safe and healthy.

Chapter 13: Porn Terminology and Sex Act Glossary provides definitions for “69” through “Woman-Directed Films.”

Chapter 14: Resources: Where to Buy and Rent Your Porn is 23 pages of retail and on-line stores, on-line porn rental companies, safer sex resources, and Blue’s choice of pop-up free websites of performers and adult resources.

Chapter 15: References, followed by indexes by director and film title.

In general, I found this book to be extremely useful and give it 4 stars.  My main complaint is that it was published in 2003, making some of the movie reviews outdated.

I ended up donating this book to my public library, because I'd gotten everything out of it that I needed. I wasn't sure if the library would keep the book or add it to their used books sale. I was please to see that the library added the book to their collection, so now endless numbers of people can learn more about watching and enjoying porn.