Versatile acupuncture

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 17

Versatile acupuncture

Sexual Acupuncture and Acupressure. By Frank Z. Warren M.D. and Walter lan Fischman C.M.D. Unwin Paperbacks. 238 pp. $9.25. The Acupressure Slimming Book. By Dr Frank Bahr. Unwin Paperbacks. 148 pp. $6.50. (Reviewed by A. K. Grant)

The second of these books has a cover picture of a w-oman pinching her upper lip. this being the basic acupressure dieting technique. The first book has a picture of an attractive, blond, naked woman having her bottom gentlymassaged. Therefore, despite its higher price, the first book is the better buy. It is also the more interesting of the two. since sex is always more interesting than not eating. Neither book, how-ever. is reallycapable of being reviewed by anyone who has not undergone the treatments they prescribe, since with sexual acupuncture the proof of the pudding is in the pricking, and with acupressure dieting you have to give up pudding altogether. The claims made by Drs Warren and Fischman for sexual acupuncture are substantial. The technique can, it would appear, cure a wide range of sexual dysfunctions. and heighten sexual sensitivity- in those who are functioning normally but unecsatatically. This is all brought’ about by- the plunging of tiny needles into various parts of the body. The technique is new to America, where this book w-as first published, but has been known to the Chinese for thousands of years, which is presumably- one of the reasons why there are so many Chinese. While the West was wallowing in the decline of the Roman Empire and the barbarism of the Middle Ages, the inscrutable Chinese were inventing gunpowder and multiple orgasms. Several chapters in the book are written in question and answer form, a.v*. these contain some sensible au-ice about sex independently of the acupuncture content.

As for sexual acupressure, this, as the name implies, involves the application of pressure to various parts of each others’ bodies by sexual partners, and sounds very pleasant, although in order to do it properly you apparently have to have a long, I’an’gourous bath each, dry each, other, apply a mildly fragrant perfume to the body and then pat each other with taiculm powder. This is all very well, and no doubt in an ideal world sex would always take place' under such conditions, but not everybody has that amount of time at their disposal. However, that is their problem, rather than Drs Warren and Fischman's.

“The Acupressure Slimming Book” recommends dieting and exercise as means by which weight may be lost and is thus hardly revolutionary. Indeed, the diets prescribed are so ascetic that it would be necessary to combine them with ' lots of sexual acupressure in order to give, yourself a reason for living.

' The point of the acupressure techniques prescribed, apparently, is that they act to restrain the appetite’ They well may do so, and if they- do, then a man would be a fool not to try them. However, a man might be a bit misguided if he undertakes some of Dr Bahr's recommended exercises, such as exercise 6: "For Beautiful, Firm Breasts.” or exercise 5: "The Road to Shapely Thighs.” That exercise sounds more like the title of a Daphne Du Maurier novel. Shapely Thighs suggesting itself as the name of an ancient Cornish mansion situated high or the edge of sheer cliffs, against the base of which the ceaseless Atlantic roller; endlessly break.

On the evidence of these two books, acupuncture and acupressure seem such versatile techniques that one looks forward to titles such as "How to Pay Off Your Mortgage Through Acupuncture,” or "Examinations and I.Q. Pressure.”