Outbursts!: A Queer Erotic Thesaurus

Janet Money is a writer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation in Toronto.

An Erotic Thesaurus in 1999) has a heavy emphasis on same-sex
activities, although many of the words for which he provides synonyms,
such as urethra and erection, are of course not limited to activities
and interests of gay men and lesbians.

The lack of an index means that this book is really for the writer of
sexual stuff. For the general reader, it’s frustrating, and prevents
using the book to learn meanings of terms one might come across
elsewhere, such as “goal-keeper” (synonym for clitoris) or “cotton
hammock” (underwear). Below some entries Peterkin provides
explanations for selected terms. We learn that “Hot as a
firecracker” (aroused) was coined in Canada in the 1920s. It is these
snippets of information, as well as the introduction, that save this
volume from being brain-numbing.

Peterkin provides a few pages of introductory discussion of erotic
words and acknowledges that our phallocentric society has led to a
preponderance of male-related terms. Compare, for example, 10 pages of
synonyms for penis, less than a page for clitoris, and three for vagina.
Although breast has the third highest number of synonyms (penis is
first, copulation second), Peterkin points out this is undoubtedly due
to heterosexual male interest into the female version of this body part.

The disparity between male and female-related terms is also,
unfortunately, reflected in the book’s illustrations. The
postage-stamp sized photos include far more naked men with erections
than this lesbian thought she’d ever see in her lifetime, and only a
smattering of images of the female form.

For non-writers, this book’s value is strictly as a novelty.