性 (1992)

《性》（英语：Sex）是美国女歌手麦当娜的一本限制级咖啡桌书籍，由知名时尚摄影师Steven Meisel拍摄，并由美国Hachette Book、Maverick和Callaway Books在1992年10月21日发行。

《性》发行于麦当娜第五张录音室专辑《情欲》（英语：Erotica）的第二天，并夹带一张单曲CD，曲目名称为〈Erotic〉，为专辑同名单曲〈情欲〉的另一版本。

《性》于发行第一天就在美国卖出超过15万册，一个礼拜卖出超过50万册，并连续三周登上《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜榜首。

Sex is a 1992 coffee table book written by American singer Madonna, with photography by Steven Meisel Studio and Fabien Baron. It was edited by Glenn O'Brien and published by Warner Books, Maverick and Callaway. The book features adult content including softcore pornography and simulations of sexual acts including sadomasochism.

Madonna developed Sex after Judith Regan of Simon & Schuster publishers suggested a book of erotic photographs. She wrote it as a character named "Mistress Dita", inspired by 1930s film actress Dita Parlo. It was influenced by punk rock and fashion figures including Guy Bourdin, Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe. The photos were shot in early 1992 in New York City and Miami, in locations including hotels, burlesque theaters, and city streets. The book includes cameos by actress Isabella Rossellini, rappers Big Daddy Kane and Vanilla Ice, model Naomi Campbell, gay porn star Joey Stefano, actor Udo Kier, and socialite Princess Tatiana von Fürstenberg. The cover is made of aluminium, spiral bound and wrapped in a boPET sheet.

Madonna's publishers were apprehensive about the release and the book's commercial potential. It was released on October 21, 1992, the day after Madonna's fifth studio album Erotica. A CD single was also packaged with the book which contained the song "Erotic", a song similar in composition to her similarly named single "Erotica". It sold over 150,000 copies on its first day in the United States, and topped the New York Times Best Seller list for three weeks. In a matter of days, Sex went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies worldwide and remains the best- and fastest-selling coffee table book. It also remains as one of the most in-demand out-of-print publications of all time.

Sex attracted extensive media attention and backlash, but Madonna remained unapologetic. Though it initially received negative reviews from fans and critics, who felt she had "gone too far", later reviews have been more positive, with academics deeming it a defining phase in Madonna's career. Sex is noted for its social and cultural impact and is considered a bold postmodern feminist work.

Background and development

According to Giselle Benatar of Entertainment Weekly, two versions explain how Madonna came up with the idea for the book. One is that she conceived the idea of an erotic photography book during the shooting of the film A League of Their Own in the summer of 1991. The other is that Judith Regan, vice-president and editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster, armed with a proposal for a collection of photo-erotica, flew to Los Angeles in March 1991 to meet with Madonna and her manager Freddy DeMann. She verified Regan had not approached other celebrities with the concept as she was only interested in the project if it was a unique idea. By the end of the meeting Madonna had agreed "in principle" to do a book titled Madonna's Book of Erotica and Sexual Fantasies. She told Regan that DeMann would call her and work out the book's details. However, Madonna never got back to Regan who assumed she did not want to go ahead with the idea. Madonna's publicist Liz Rosenberg has never confirmed nor denied Regan's claim that they had an agreement.

According to Benatar, Madonna began working on Sex before wrapping up shooting A League of Their Own. At first, Warner Bros. Records and the executive directors of Time Warner were reluctant to allow Madonna to publish such a book, but finally agreed. Madonna had to sign a contract that forbade the book from including images of child pornography, bestiality, or religious imagery. Not long after signing the agreement, Madonna founded Maverick, a multi-media entertainment company in partnership with Time Warner. Since by contract she had total artistic control over any work released by Maverick, who were now the book's publisher, the agreement she signed with Time Warner over the content in Sex was null and void.