Photos by Timothy Archibald, used with permission of Process Media Inc.

"While researching a story about independent inventors in the Spring of 2002," says Timothy Archibald in the introduction to his book Sex Machines: Photographs and Interviews, "I came across a small web community for inventors of sex machines." Thus began Archibald's bizarre odyssey, a trip which has produced one of publishing history's most amusing, fascinating and unexpectedly profound photo books on sex.

Though Archibald's first encounter with that web community was abortive at best -- the inventors had banded together to discuss the use of sex machines in their private relationships, not to start businesses or promote themselves -- Archibald eventually stumbled into the Mature Audiences section of eBay, where he found regular listings of 15-20 sex machines on any given day. Thus did he discover the underground world of garage-built sex-machines and their inventors. Archibald discovered that sprinkled throughout the files of the U.S. patent office were early designs for mechanical sexual devices -- and, more importantly, "People in tiny towns and suburbs across America were building, selling, and collecting these machines, and sharing their ideas with each other."

Though the photos -- even those that feature naked human subjects alongside their mechanical ones -- are clearly presented for their artistic value more than for arousal, I found a number of them unexpectedly erotic -- how can the mind not go there when looking at devices with such wicked and enticing possibilities?

Archibald's photos of these inventors, their machines and their fellow experimenters -- let's call them "subjects," since we're playing mad scientist for the moment -- are artfully composed, and combined with the straightforward text about his experiences meeting and talking with these folks, creates a stirring, inspiring and bizarre portrait of a grassroots culture. From Sartan's Workshop in Redwood City, California to Smitty Smith in Wappinger Falls, New York -- and points far afield -- Archibald talks to the developers of these strange machines, who display a disarming frankness about their interests -- both mechanical and sexual.

"The Huskette has a $300 KitchenAid mixer motor inside it," says "James," of St. Paul, Minnesota, alongside a photo of "The Huskette" in the homey environs of a beige-carpeted living room. "We thought it was silly to spend $300 on something with only one use....so if you wanted to make cookies, you can detach the mixer from the machine...and you can get to work in the kitchen. We aren't kidding."

It's that level of comfort with the mechanical demands of modern life -- and a straightforward appreciation for the sexual fun that said mechanical demands can provide, if managed with a little imagination -- that makes these inventors so charming and awe-inspiring. These are fascinating people, never doubt it -- what kind of a person turns their mechanical knowledge to creating a machine that can fuck you at 300 RPM? A wide variety of inventors are profiled here, from anonymous inventors to those who developed machines for sites like fuckingmachines.com.

But Archibald doesn't hold them up to ridicule or chide their "unusual" interests the way so many mainstream writers on sexuality might when presented with a topic at once so perverse and titillating. On the contrary, Archibald is too busy letting the inventors speak for themselves -- drawing a portrait both seductively simple and mind-bendingly complex, a photo-booth snapshot of how sexuality and technology can interact in unexpectedly beautiful ways -- given enough brainpower, an open mind, a lug wrench or two and some good old fashioned elbow grease.

Whether the idea of a sex machine excites you or just fascinates you, this book should not be missed. Timothy Archibald has created an artistic document of freakish and downright weighty candor, at once an important book and a hilarious, mid-bending epic. It's the sort of book that comes along far too infrequently. Sex Machines is nothing less than awesome.

Sex Machines - by Thomas S. Roche

Top of the Guide