Dress for SEXcess

This marital advice book by the pseudonymous author ScissorMan offers an unusual idea: cutting up a spouse’s clothes.

The author isn’t a therapist or researcher, but he writes that he’s been in a loving, sexually active marriage for 50 years. In this book, he shares his ideas about what makes his marriage work. His main strategy for adding variety to their sex life, he says, is to make various revealing outfits for his wife instead of buying expensive lingerie. He doesn’t pretend to have advanced sewing experience; instead, he’s found less skill-intensive ways to modify thrift-store clothes for use in the bedroom. His book offers some helpful illustrations of these methods but no step-by-step diagrams. There’s a lot of creativity involved here, and some of the ideas may be inspiring for couples who are interested in this type of play. There seems to be a certain lack of awareness, however, that the idea may not appeal to every reader. The book also includes lectures about how men think, and other chapters make specific reference to the Bible and to other marriage advice books. The author admonishes wives to maintain their physical appearances for their husbands’ benefit and also reminds women of the Biblical teaching to respect their husbands: “Lack of respect is also probably the main cause of marital problems by women who have been brainwashed by the Feminist Movement,” he says. Unfortunately, this idea places much of the burden of repairing a marriage on the wife. Such conservative thoughts about gender roles and marriage seem at odds with the book’s explicit tone, and they may alienate readers who would have otherwise taken an interest in the clothing.

Readers may appreciate some of this book’s sewing tips, but it falls short as a more general guide to revitalizing marital sex.