This study is about lesbian feminists in London in the late 1980s. It was a period when their community was experiencing considerable conflict and transition, as ideas about gender and sexuality on which their political beliefs were based were being challenged within their own community. The book goes through their public and personal lives, looking at how they coped with the challenges and the complex world of London, and how they began to change as a result.

God has assumed a significant role in the sex lives of believers. It is God who decrees which types of sexual expression are permitted, and which forbidden. Through the Church, a patriarchal sexual landscape has been enacted to control sexual bodies which exerts its influence even in our secular culture.

The Good News of the Body is a wide-ranging anthology on feminist sexual theology. Noting that Jesus, while being declared divine, took human form, the volume questions what happens when the flesh, rather than the Word, is placed at the center of theological reflection. What happens when women's bodies form the incarnational starting point for sexual politics and theology? Contributors, including Rosemary Ruether, Mary Hunt, and Melissa Raphael, examine such topics as the possibility of a Roman Catholic approach to sexuality bringing together the three aspects of Christian love of eros, philia, and agape; Jewish sexual and mystical teaching; the de-sexing of the disabled; erotic celibacy; human sexuality and the concept of the goddess; and the sometimes surprisingly similar conclusions about contraception reached by feminists and popes.

View the Table of Contents. Read the Introduction.In this dynamic legal context the publication of Janet R. Jakobsen and Ann Pellegrini''s Love the Sin offers a smart, but controversial, intervention. -- Journal of the American Academy of ReligionImportant... a fresh way to argue for gay rights and sexual freedom.--Boston PhoenixLove the Sin is a progressive contribution to discussions about sexual and religious freedom in a country where we find less of both than most politicians, religious thinkers, media moralists, and average Americans want to admit.--Gay TodayA brilliant book, one that can move public conversations about sexual, racial, and religious difference beyond present assumptions and impasses. Love the Sin suggests that religion can become the ground for sexual freedom rather than the justification for sexual repression.--Margaret R. Miles, author of Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the MoviesThis impressive book provides analytical and strategic insights on the central obstacle to gay and lesbian freedom today: sexuality''s treatment by religion. The authors'' accessible voice, wide-ranging and original synthesis, and deep knowledge make the experience of reading this book a pleasure.--Urvashi Vaid, former director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy InstituteJakobsen and Pellegrini argue convincingly that movements for ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual justice would be well served by using the paradigm of religious freedom instead of biological determinism to make the case for social change. Love the Sin is required reading for all the sinners to whom the title euphemistically refers, and for everyone who dreams of a more just society.--RabbiRebecca Alpert, author of Like Bread on the Seder PlateGives us vital language to escape both the trap of toleration and the seduction of assimilation. Not afraid to challenge the certainties of the secular left on religion, nor willing to settle for a narrow version of gay and lesbian rights, Love the Sin presents a new vision of American sexual and religious freedom.--Laura Levitt, Director of Jewish Studies, Temple UniversityAs ambitious, feisty, and exciting as any new passion, Love the Sin takes its readers on a compelling ride across the volatile landscape of religion and sex in American public life. The authors not only provoke and stimulate, guide and elucidate, but they redefine freedom and democracy as values for our sex lives as well as our sexual politics.--Lisa Duggan, coauthor of Sex Wars: Sexual Dissent and Political CultureJakobsen and Pellegrini do a nice job of showing how the love-the-sinner/hate-the- sin tradition falls dramatically short of the higher aspiration to tolerance.--Stephen Pomper, Washington MonthlyThe authors of this short but succinct study explore the connection between the traditions of Christianity and the political and social regulation of sexuality in America.-- Library JournalLike any trumpet call to pull down the walls, this book serves its purpose by giving the GLBT community a new focus and even a renewed idealism.--The Gay & Lesbian ReviewWe cannot afford to lose the battle for nonpartisan sex education in the schools, sexual freedom for all citizens or a host of other endangered human rights. Love the Sin is essential reading for anyone who cares about these issues.--Women''s Review of BooksLove the Sin is a book that is relevant for anyoneinterested in sexology, religion, and politics. It has the potential to provoke and important dialogue amoung religious institutions, politicians at every level of government, community leader, and families about what it means to live up to the American ideal. -- Journal of History of SexualitySex. Religion. There is no denying that these two subjects are among the most provocative in American public life. Even the constitutional principle of church-state separation seems to give way when it comes to sex: the Supreme Court draws on theology as readily as it draws on cas

This book traces the development of sexuality in the child from the prenatal, through birth and up to puberty and adolescence. Very little has been written about children's sexuality in spite of a large literature on child abuse. Western society has been slow to recognize sexual experiences and conceptualizations as an important part of a child's development. This is the only work that has been written in a frank and open manner about the many sexual encounters that children have on a daily basis as part of their normal psychological development. Martinson's study is unique in that children speak for themselves in telling about their explorations, confusions, fears, and satisfactions. The book traces the life of children in their day-to-day encounters as they grow and develop. It complements and rounds out Robert Coles's important works on "The Moral Life of Children," "The Political Life of Children," and "The Spiritual Life of Children."

Intravenous drug users account for nearly one-third of the current AIDS cases in the United States--second only to gay males--and are responsible for 72 percent of female and 59 percent of pediatric cases of AIDS. Thus the National Institute of Drug Abuse launched a major effort in 1987 to locate hidden users and to see how they function and to evaluate strategies and community-based programs in 50 cities and 60 nearby communities around the country in order to lower risks to IV users and to reduce the dangers that they pose to others in the population. Brown and Beschner present the very latest findings and come to well-tested conclusions about how to change behaviors positively. This handbook is written for use in college, university, and professional libraries and for students, teachers, policymakers, and practitioners in public health service and in public policy at all governmental levels to study carefully. Brown and Beschner open with an introduction showing how injection drug users and their sexual partners are at risk for aids. Part I describes the spread of AIDS in the United States and Puerto Rico. Part II depicts patterns of injection drug and crack use and their effect on sex partners. Part III deals with gender issues. Part IV goes into demographic and background factors. Part V discusses key issues in the use of drug abuse treatment. Part VI analyzes outreach and behavior change strategies. And Part VI looks into how risk can be reduced as a result of outreach and specific intervention strategies. The final chapter comes to some conclusions about the effectiveness of various interventions by the National AIDS Demonstration Research Project. Background readings also add to the importance of this major reference.

What role did sexual assault play in the conquest of America? How did American attitudes toward female sexuality evolve, and how was sexuality regulated in the early Republic?

Sex and sexuality have always been the subject of much attention, both scholarly and popular. Yet, accounts of the early years of the United States tend to overlook the importance of their influence on the shaping of American culture. Sex and Sexuality in Early America addresses this neglected topic with original research covering a wide spectrum, from sexual behavior to sexual perceptions and imagery. Focusing on the period between the initial contact of Europeans and Native Americans up to 1800, the essays encompass all of colonial North America, including the Caribbean and Spanish territories.

Challenging previous assumptions, these essays address such topics as rape as a tool of conquest; perceptions and responses to Native American sexuality; fornication, bastardy, celibacy, and religion in colonial New England; gendered speech in captivity narratives; representations of masculinity in eighteenth- century seduction tales, the sexual cosmos of a southern planter, and sexual transgression and madness in early American fiction. The contributors include Stephanie Wood, Gordon Sayre, Steven Neuwirth, Else L. Hambleton, Erik R. Seeman, Richard Godbeer, Trevor Burnard, Natalie A. Zacek, Wayne Bodle, Heather Smyth, Rodney Hessinger, and Karen A. Weyler.

Chris Beck played high school football. He bought a motorcycle, much to his mother's dismay, at age 17. He grew up to become a U.S. Navy SEAL, serving our country for twenty years on thirteen deployments, including seven combat deployments, and ultimately earned a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. To everyone who saw him, he was a hero. A warrior. A man. But underneath his burly beard, Chris had a secret, one that had been buried deep inside his heart since he was a little boy-one as hidden as the panty hose in the back of his drawer. He was transgender, and the woman inside needed to get out. This is the journey of a girl in a man's body and her road to self-actualization as a woman amidst the PTSD of war, family rejection and our society's strict gender rules and perceptions. It is about a fight to be free inside one's own body, a fight that requires the strength of a Warrior Princess. Kristin's story of boy to woman explores the tangled emotions of the transgender experience and opens up a new dialogue about being male or female: Is gender merely between your legs or is it something much bigger?

This book explains how the short-lived sexual revolution 50 years ago has led to the current evolution of our sexual values and behaviors and social standards among youth culture, examining topics such as communication technologies and sex, teen pregnancy, and divorce rates in the Bible Belt. Is an increase in sexual activity during adolescence a normal part of the transition to adulthood, or evidence of a societal problem? Why would conservative religious youth become sexually active earlier than their peers and be more likely to have an unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease? How are women continuing to lead our society's sexual transformation? Written by an author whose 40-year career in sexology and university administration provides a uniquely qualified perspective upon both sex research and the changing sexual perceptions of American youth, this comprehensive book is must-read for both parents and policy makers. America's Sexual Transformation traces the philosophical, cultural, and scientific developments responsible for the beginning and end of America's sexual revolution that have now spawned a more substantive sexual transformation. It examines traditional theories and attitudes regarding sex, and demonstrates how the findings of sex research provide entirely new paradigms that should replace outmoded and harmful theories. This groundbreaking book also explains who we are as sexual individuals and how we got to be that way. Chapter notes highlight some of the major sex research studies of the past 50 years Case studies and personal histories document unusual sexual preferences and how the practice of sex therapy is changing with current communication technologies A comprehensive index helps readers find salient points easily

"An original, liberating interpretation . . . should become a standard of cultural and psychoanalytical studies."
--"The Guardian"

The aura of passivity that has for centuries surrounded female sexuality in popular culture, psychology, and literature has, in recent years, dissipated. And yet fetishism, one of the most intriguing and mysterious forms of sexual expression, is still cast as an almost exclusively male domain. Most psychoanalytic thought, for instance, excludes the very possibility of female fetishism.

The first book on the subject, "Female Fetishism" engagingly documents women's involvement in this form of sexuality. Lorraine Gamman and Merja Makinen describe a wide array of female fetishisms, from the obsessional behavior of pop fans (and pop performers such as Madonna) to fetishism in advertising to women's involvement in the world of dress clubs and fetish magazines. The authors provide provocative evidence of food fetishism among women, arguing that many eating disorders are best understood from this perspective.
A latter portion of the book includes a discussion of how feminists have treated the political and cultural significance of female fetishism.

Bonding Eros with virtue is neither unrealistic nor naive, contends Mike Martin. On the contrary, it's practical, even pragmatic. Virtues serve to focus, structure, and even define erotic love. In particular, caring, respect, faithfulness, honesty, fairness, wisdom, and gratitude are central to successful, long-term relationships.

"In Love's Virtues," Martin takes a look at why moral values enhance and solidify erotic and marital relationships. In the process, he challenges the widespread cynicism about marriage while remaining sensitive to the innumerable problems confronting couples. His approach to marital love is both traditional and modern. Traditional, by seeking to understand the moral significance of relationships based on long-term and lifelong commitments to love. Modern, by proceeding within a pluralist framework that affirms many kinds of erotic love, depending on the ideals partners embrace and their interpretations (within limits) of love's virtues.

Marriages, as Martin understands them, are moral relationships that involve sexual desires (at some time during the relationship) and are based on long-term commitment, whether or not those commitments are formally sanctioned by legal or religious authorities. In this sense, marriages are not restricted by the law, religious tenets, or the partners' sexual orientation.

Drawing on literature, psychology, and philosophy--from Plato and Shakespeare to Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bellah, and Carol Gilligan; from Tolstoy and D.H. Lawrence to Erich Fromm, Erica Jong, and Alice Walker--Martin reminds us that virtuous erotic love is a way to morally value another person. Understanding love as a virtue-structured way to appreciate others, he illustrates, is itself a step toward renewing marital faith.

Challenging much current thinking in the field that considers these youths a homogenous group, this volume applies a heterogeneous approach. Individualized treatment plans addressing a wide range of needs are presented. Practical and specific guidance about assessment, treatment, and discharge planning is well-grounded in research, providing a solid theoretical and conceptual framework. Staff training, development and treatment outcome evaluation are also included.

In the "Preparing for Treatment "section, the book discusses how to translate the needs of sexually aggressive youth into a program model. In its "Providing Treatment "section there are descriptions of therapeutic, milieu, and specialized interventions. Finally, in a "Supporting Treatment" section, guidance is given to improve outcome evaluation efforts, staff selection, and training.

Here, Shelley Green and Douglas Flemons gather a wonderful array of approaches to sex therapy, each presented by a well-known therapist in the field. Quickies takes its cue from clients and keeps it positive and quick, as readers are reminded that the point of sex therapy is sexual change.

There are few topics in sex research as compelling and confounding to researchers, clinicians, and the general public as that of transsexualism. Upending normative notions of gender, eroticism, and identity, it poses significant scientific and clinical challenges. The book addresses a fascinating and largely unexplored topic within the study of transsexualism: The feelings and desires of conventionally masculine men who are attracted to women yet want to become women themselves. Through a collection and discussion of vivid first-person narratives, the book provides an in-depth examination of these men's unusual propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as women and how these men's sexual feelings influence their decisions to seek or undergo sex reassignment. These narratives about autogynephilia by autogynephilic male-to-female (MtF) transsexuals provide the first comprehensive documentation of the erotic ideation that underlies the most common form of MtF transsexualism. The narratives provide empirical evidence for Blanchard's theory of MtF transsexual motivation, and thus are of interest to researchers and theorists studying the phenomenology of MtF transsexualism. The narratives are likely to be eye-opening to psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, and other professionals who work with MtF transsexuals: Most clinicians probably do not fully appreciate the erotic underpinnings of their clients' condition. A better understanding of their clients' autogynephilic feelings and motivations would enable these professionals to provide more empathetic and effective clinical care.

"Scott Harms Rose takes up questions about intimacy among gay men, which even in these post-postmodern times is not a well-traveled subject ... The exploration of the subjects' sense of masculinity, and of their relationships with their fathers and with romantic partners in adulthood, sheds light on the interplay of identity and relationship as it plays out for gay men in a heterosexist environment ... As truly good clinical and theoretical work usually does, it also calls to mind the various experiences of gender and intimate relations across the spectrums of orientation, desire, identification, and biological sex." - Dr. Paul E. Lynch, Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School and Boston University School of Medicine
"Scott Harms Rose has given us a deeply moving account of the ways in which inner experience and outer realities shape the emergence of self and the course of relational life in gay men. His case studies are carefully informed by his experience as a clinician as well as a rich appreciation of the object relations tradition and empirical study in contemporary psychoanalysis. His renderings of persons and lives deepen our understanding of vulnerabilities across the course of development and enlarge our appreciation of essential concerns in the therapeutic endeavor. This work belongs to that rare category of book that promises to engage theoreticians, researchers, and psychotherapists alike." - William Borden, Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Service Administration and Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago
"If you want to gain a sense of what it is like to read this book, think of Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Days Journey Into Night' or Miller's 'Death of a Salesman'. For Rose's case studies--the core of this deeply moving study of the life of homosexual men--have a painful accuracy to them. Rose's work is ostensibly a study of homosexuality and his review of the literature is thorough and his discussion of his findings clinically illuminating. It is also a book about fathers and sons and in this respect it helps us to see some homosexualities in a universal context. A fine book." - Christopher Bollas, author of The Shadow of the Object: Psychoanalysis of the Unthought Known, Cracking Up, and Being a Character.

Through an analysis of the discourse practices of populist Far Right groups in France, Italy and Belgian Flanders, this book makes a ground-breaking contribution to our understanding of the ways in which homophobic discourse functions. It proposes an innovative heuristic for the conceiving of the interplay of language, context and culture: discourse ecology. The author brings linguistic theories, methods and ways of understanding and thinking about language to a study of the overt and covert homophobic discourses of three non-Anglophone populist movements, and grounds the interpretation of such practices in observable data. In doing so the book encourages us all to reconsider the power we give language in our activism and scholarship, as well as in our private lives.

Through an analysis of the discourse practices of populist Far Right groups in France, Italy and Belgian Flanders, this book makes a ground-breaking contribution to our understanding of the ways in which homophobic discourse functions. It proposes an innovative heuristic for the conceiving of the interplay of language, context and culture: discourse ecology. The author brings linguistic theories, methods and ways of understanding and thinking about language to a study of the overt and covert homophobic discourses of three non-Anglophone populist movements, and grounds the interpretation of such practices in observable data. In doing so the book encourages us all to reconsider the power we give language in our activism and scholarship, as well as in our private lives.

"Flirting with Danger is well worth the read and is likely to stimulate lively discussion in the classroom. Phillips has a good ear for narrative and a keen sense of the uncertainties and competing forces that shape heterosexual relationships for contemporary young women."
--"Psychology of Women Quarterly"

"Based on in-depth individual and collective interviews with a racialy and culturally diverse sampe of college-aged women, Flirting with Danger sheds light on the cultural lenses through which young women interpret their sexual encounters and their experiences of male aggression in heterosexual relationships."
--"Adolescence"

In Flirting with Danger, Lynn M. Phillips explores how young women make sense of, resist, and negotiate conflicting cultural messages about sexual agency, responsibility, aggression, and desire. How do women develop their ideas about sex, love, and domination? Why do they express feminist views condemning male violence in the abstract, but often adamantly refuse to name their own violent and exploitive encounters as abuse, rape, or victimization?

Based on in-depth individual and collective interviews with a racially and culturally diverse sample of college-aged women, Flirting with Danger sheds valuable light on the cultural lenses through which young women interpret their sexual encounters and their experiences of male aggression in heterosexual relationships.

Phillips makes an important contribution to the fields of female and adolescent sexuality, feminist theory, and feminist method. The volume will also be of particular use to advocates seeking to design prevention and intervention programs which speak to the complex needs of womengrappling with questions of sexuality and violence.

This ground-breaking book explores the experiences of gay men and their understanding of what it meant to be gay in the 20th Century: from when homosexuality was illegal through the less repressed but no less difficult eras of gay liberation and the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

'Captivating, emphatic and deeply inspiring, Sexual Revolution lifted me greatly by envisioning the possibilities of our moment' V (formerly Eve Ensler) 'Brilliant; vital; revolutionary' Kate Manne _________________ This is a story about how modern masculinity is killing the world, and how feminism can save it. It's a story about sex and power and trauma and resistance and persistence. Sex and gender are changing, and the world is changing with them. In this time of crisis, we are also witnessing a productive transformation: a revolutionary change in how we define gender, sex, consent and whose bodies matter. This sexual revolution is a threat to the social and economic order. It undermines the existing power structures and weakens the authority of institutions from the waged workplace to the nuclear family. No wonder the far right is fighting back so hard. Told with Laurie Penny's trademark urgency and candour, Sexual Revolution is a hand-grenade of a book: both a manifesto for social change and a story of how feminism can save us.