SAS National Book Club - May 2026

ABOUT THE BOOK

The smell of leather. The flash of a harness. The snap of a latex glove. Welcome to the radical, vibrant world of sexual fetishists.

In 21st century commodity culture, we are all intimately involved with objects: we covet a Birkin bag; we keep trainers box-fresh. We are, in a sense, all fetishists. But occasionally this desire spills into something more subversive. Second Skin offers a tour through the materials, objects and power dynamics commonly fetishised, unpacking their histories, their expressive potential, and the communities they give rise to. Drawing from her encounters with fellow fetishists and kinksters, it is also the story of Anastasiia Fedorova's own journey: of what it means to come to terms with one's sexuality.

Brave and searching, Second Skin reveals how what we deem 'taboo' is never static, while asking: do we have the courage to look at these desires directly, and express them unapologetically?

ABOUT THE BOOK CLUB

The Book Club meetings are facilitated by Martin Gladman (Clinical Sexologist, Relationships Counsellor and Accredited Mental Health Social Worker) and Deborah Vanderwerp (Educator and Counsellor), both of whom are SAS members from Victoria.

3 CPD points are available after the quiz is completed.

Attending members choose the next book club meeting book from the recommendations.

A SAS book list is available here https://societyaustraliansexologists.org.au/faq

The books that were recommended by attendees for the May book club meeting were;

• Love in a F*cked-Up World How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell Together by Dean Spade, 2025
• Perv: The Sexual Deviant in all of us by Jesse Bering, 2014
• Queer Footprints by Dan Glass, 2023
• Second Skin: Inside the Worlds of Fetish, Kink and Deviant Desire by Anastasiia Fedorova, 2026
• Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid, 2019