Why Are People Into That?: A Cultural Investigation of Kink

From a #1 Apple podcast host, Lambda Literary fellow, and dominatrix, a sex-positive, judgment-free cultural deep-dive into the world of kink


When BDSM educator, dominatrix, and queer advocate Tina Horn first launched Why Are People Into That?!, publications from Esquire and Guardian to Vice, Bustle, Buzzfeed, and beyond heralded the undertaking as one of the best podcasts about sex. Each episode centered around a different aspect of kink, erotic fantasy, and human sexuality, thoughtfully and non-judgmentally examining why, exactly, different strokes work for different folks. From sex workers and scientists to artists, writers, and activists, Tina’s wide range of guests helped educate fascinated listeners across the world on the wide spectrum of humanity’s sexual appetite. But for every episode she released, with every guest expert she interviewed, she found her listeners more and more insatiable–and she soon realized that the only way to really address the titular question with all the depth and nuance it deserved was to turn that idea into a book.

From spanking, strap-ons, and orgies, to the most taboo fantasies involving cake, chains, and cannibalism, WHY ARE PEOPLE INTO THAT? explores the universal human drives that shape even the most specific erotic tastes, and the cultural context that molds and is molded by the way we conceptualize sex, pleasure, gender, fantasy, and power. Along the way, Tina invites us to reconsider everything we thought we knew about sex and sexuality. How, for example, should we think about "consensual nonconsent" in a post-#MeToo era? How does cross-dressing, as a sexual fantasy, fit in with our evolving cultural understanding of gender performance and identity? And what do foot fetishists, fisters, and FinDoms have in common?

Blending insightful cultural criticism, investigative journalism, psychology, and spicy anecdotes from Tina’s 15+ years of hard-earned expertise in the sex industry and beyond, WHY ARE PEOPLE INTO THAT? is a philosophical-but-fun exploration of the prismatic spectrum of human desire and the expansive possibilities of pleasure. For readers of books like Kink, Pleasure Activism, and Sex at Dawn, this raunchy and rousing book is perfect for anyone who is interested not only in the intricacies of what we desire, but in how desire itself really works.