Toronto photographer Will Santillo and author/editor Dian Hanson collaborated on a collection of stories and photographs detailing the intimate, candid and often erotic thoughts of women and masturbation. For their 208-page hardcover La Petite Mort, Hanson interviewed 37 females who opened their doors to her — and their legs to Santillo — in an effort to reveal the diversity and creativity women use in reaching climax. With the help of subjects from varied age groups, demographics and physical attributes, Santillo’s at-times very explicit but artful photographs depict the diversity and creativity each of these women used to approach self-stimulation.

As it’s Taschen the subject is handled tastefully, but make no mistake — the book pulls no punches. With the candor these women take in describing how they overcame their inhibitions, stripped down naked and baring all for the camera, we’re able to understand just how the “Little Death” — the title of the book and French euphemism for orgasm — illuminates the lives of the dynamic women beautifully portrayed in these very private moments. Get a revealing glimpse of how the other side really lives for $40.

If you can’t help yourself, the erotic (and obviously NSFW) images of Will Santillo’s La Petite Mort are after the Jump…