The Joy of Sex

The Joy of Sex is a sex manual by Alex Comfort. The paperback edition was given an R16 classification in 1975 and in 1978 the hardback edition was as well.

The surviving record is interesting because it shows how even ordinary-looking books can acquire a charged political afterlife. As a sex manual, it can be read not only for subject matter but for the way form, tone, and circulation make a text feel dangerous, intimate, or politically usable to anxious officials.

It also matters as part of a wider censorship history in New Zealand. The present page is a dossier starter built from source-tracked ban records; the surviving note currently says: The paperback edition was given an R16 classification in 1975 and in 1978 the hardback edition was as well. More publication history, translations, and close reading can be added later.

The Joy of Sex entered censorship debates as a sex manual associated with controversy, publication history, and state scrutiny. In the current dossier, the main state objections cluster around political sensitivity.

The earliest event currently captured here is 20th century in New Zealand, where Indecent Publications Tribunal classified, prohibited, or restricted. The paperback edition was given an R16 classification in 1975 and in 1978 the hardback edition was as well. The paperback edition was given an R16 classification in 1975 and in 1978 the hardback edition was as well.

This entry is still incomplete: more jurisdictions, court orders, and translated justifications should be added over time.

This page is intentionally incomplete. The ban history is a starter dataset, not a final census of every jurisdiction or decree.

• 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald, and Dawn B. Sova

  A compact reference on how censorship systems moved across states, churches, and courts.

• Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. Anne Lyon Haight

  Useful for comparing older obscenity, heresy, and political bans with modern free-speech disputes.

• Wikipedia: List of books banned in New Zealand reference partial
• Wikipedia REST summary API database partial
• 100 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature book partial
• Banned Books: 387 B.C. to 1978 A.D. book partial