Many aspects of the human mind remain mysterious. While Darwinian natural selection can explain the evolution of most life on earth, it has never seemed fully adequate to explain the aspects of our minds that s eem most uniquely and profoundly human - art, morality, consciousness, creativity and language. Yet these aspects of human nature need not remain evolutionary mysteries.

Until fairly recently most biologists have ignored or rejected Darwin's claims for the other great force of evolution - sexual selection through mate choice, which favours traits simply because they prove attractive to the opposite sex. But over recent years biologists have taken up Darwin's insights into how the reproduction of the sexiest is as much a focus of evolution as the survival of the fittest. Witty, powerfully-argued and continually thought-provoking, Miller's cascade of ideas bears comparison with such critical books as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct. It is a landmark in our understanding of our own species .

Sexuality remains a neglected and largely taboo area within practice, but it can be a demanding aspect of social work. Social workers may be familiar with the importance of issues such as racism and ethnicity, but sexuality is also a very significant part of people's lives, closest relationships and sense of identity. This valuable resource introduces the topic, using a combination of perspectives to consider sexual diversity and examining related issues across the life course, including sexual orientation, disability, HIV, sexual abuse, mental health and sexual exploitation.

This timely collection brings feminist critique to bear on contemporary postfeminist mass media culture, analyzing phenomena ranging from action films featuring violent heroines to the "girling" of aging women in productions such as the movie Something's Gotta Give and the British television series 10 Years Younger. Broadly defined, "postfeminism" encompasses a set of assumptions that feminism has accomplished its goals and is now a thing of the past. It presumes that women are unsatisfied with their (taken for granted) legal and social equality and can find fulfillment only through practices of transformation and empowerment. Postfeminism is defined by class, age, and racial exclusions; it is youth-obsessed and white and middle-class by default. Anchored in consumption as a strategy and leisure as a site for the production of the self, postfeminist mass media assumes that the pleasures and lifestyles with which it is associated are somehow universally shared and, perhaps more significantly, universally accessible.Essays by feminist film, media, and literature scholars based in the United States and United Kingdom provide an array of perspectives on the social and political implications of postfeminism. Examining magazines, mainstream and independent cinema, popular music, and broadcast genres from primetime drama to reality television, contributors consider how postfeminism informs self-fashioning through makeovers and cosmetic surgery, the "metrosexual" male, the "black chick flick," and more. Interrogating Postfeminism demonstrates not only the viability of, but also the necessity for, a powerful feminist critique of contemporary popular culture. Contributors. Sarah Banet-Weiser, Steven Cohan, Lisa Coulthard, Anna Feigenbaum, Suzanne Leonard, Angela McRobbie, Diane Negra, Sarah Projansky, Martin Roberts, Hannah E. Sanders, Kimberly Springer, Yvonne Tasker, Sadie Wearing

Don't let the title fool you. this IS a serious, thoughtful (and thought-provoking) comprehensive introduction to, and examination of, a much misunderstood and misused practice. But more than that, it is a witty, provocative, damn fine read, with as much to offer to the faithfully monogamous as to those looking for a bit more out of life, love and relationships. Go on. Dive in. "Wendy-O tackles a touchy subject with clarity and creativity. She is wise beyond her years. This guide teaches you how you can have it all. I gave the jealousy tips to my lover immediately." [Annie Sprinkle]

This book is written for all women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant and want information and advice on the available options facing them. It explains what will be inolved if the woman decides on adoptions, abortion, or motherhood. It also discusses why unplanned pregnancies occur and what happens to a woman's body in early pregnancy. The whole book is brought to life iwth many extracts from interviews with women who have had unplanned pregnancies talking about their varied experiences and the choices they took.

"Sex and Pleasure in Western Culture" provides the first comprehensive overview of desire and pleasure in western sexual culture. It argues that both have always been seen as socially disruptive and morally dangerous and offers an entertaining account of the methods by which these attributes of sex were managed across the centuries from Classical Antiquity to the present day.

The book develops the hypothesis that, while expressed in very different social contexts, sexual pleasure has evoked very similar anxieties. The text draws on historical, cultural, sociological and contemporary sources and is easily accessible for both the general reader and students of gender and sexual culture. In addition to telling a story of its own, "Sex and Pleasure in Western Culture" examines lesser-known aspects of sexual history that invite further exploration by the interested reader. These range from sexual aestheticism in the 4th century AD and the sexual meaning of medieval church gargoyles, through to sexual training in the 1950s and 21st century sex holidays.

The book will provide a compelling read for both students of sexuality and lay readers who find the complexities of human sexuality a source of fascination.