'Bristles with provocative insights into the tangled liaisons of sex and self' Times Higher Education In the third volume of his acclaimed examination of sexuality in modern Western society, Foucault investigates the Golden Age of Rome to reveal a decisive break from the classical Greek version of sexual pleasure. Exploring the moral reflections of philosophers and physicians of the era, he identifies a growing anxiety over sexual activity and its consequences. At the core of this transformation Foucault found the principles of the 'care of the self': the belief that the self is an object of knowledge to be cultivated over time, and the implications this has for ethics and behaviour. 'Magnificent ... Foucault's great achievement is to illuminate an entire and cohesive body of thought. It is brilliantly done' Daily Telegraph

The intellectual movements of psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism have redefined the ways in which we think about human experience. And yet, an integration of these movements has been elusive, if not impossible. In this landmark book, J.C. Smith and Carla J. Ferstman combine these disparate traditions to create a provocative, unified, and tightly woven perspective that transcends the misogyny implicit in much of Freudian psychoanalytic theory.

The dialectics of domination and submission are central to Smith and Ferstman's argument. Men and women, they insist, must avoid the temptation to fetishize equality and recognize the roles of domination and submission in the human psyche, or, in Nietzsche's terms, the Will to Power. They argue that the unification of psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism leads us to a shocking conclusion--that women and men cannot move beyond the suffering which so haunts the human condition, unless heterosexual men surrender the power that is causing their misery and affirm life by joyfully accepting domination by women. And women, conversely, must reaffirm their power by rejecting Oedipal genderization and embracing a liberating matriarchal consciousness and a matriphallic sexuality.

A work of tremendous insight and extraordinary intellectual energy, The Castration of Oedipus will provoke strong reactions in all readers regardless of ideology.

Sexual confessions on television talk shows. Gender and medical discourse in colonial India. River Phoenix in "My Own Private Idaho." White women in a German colony. Henry James' thwarted love. What do these seemingly diverse subjects have in common?

All address, in different ways, social and cultural attempts to contain eroticism by delineating the perimeters of genders. They scrutinize the political investments in the construction of gender in such disparate locations as contemporary Hollywood, Renaissance England, colonial India and Africa, and in modern and contemporary homosexual discourse communities and in Freud's sessions with Dora.

But whether the gendering of the subject follows the dictates of conservative politics or the radical agenda of a marginalized interest, the essays reveal the erotic overflow--the flood--that cannot be contained within any one gender identity. In examining how the erotic escapes containment, this work discloses problems inherent in the intersections of gender and desire.

go to the Genders website ]

This detailed and incisive study of Milton's confrontation with his precursors and contemporaries, establishes him as a monumental but divided figure - torn between radical and conservative mentalities, between eroticism and hatred of the flesh, and between patriarchal and egalitarian conceptions of Paradisal marriage.

This book focuses on the social psychological aspects of gay men's lives and provides a cutting-edge examination of topics including sexual orientation, sexual behavior, identity, relationships, prejudice, and health. The Social Psychology of Gay Men forces us to re-think existing theory and research, much of which has taken heterosexuality for granted. With identity process theory at its heart, this book advocates a social psychology of gay men which incorporates three levels of analysis - the psychological, interpersonal and societal. The book promises not only a deeper understanding of gay men's lives but also pathways for enhancing wellbeing, intergroup relations and equality in this key population. This illuminating and thought-provoking text is an invaluable resource not only for psychologists, but for students, scholars and practitioners working in the area of gay men's life.

Fashion model, UN ambassador, and courageous spirit, Waris Dirie was born into a family of tribal desert nomads in Somalia. She told her story--enduring female circumcision at five years old; running away through the desert; being discovered by Terence Donovan and becoming a top fashion model--in her book, the worldwide bestseller, "Desert Flower," In "Desert Dawn" she wrote about becoming a UN Special Ambassador against FGM (female genital mutilation) and returning to her family in Somalia. "Desert Children" reveals how she and the journalist Corinna Milborn have investigated the practice of FGM in Europe--they estimate that up to 500,000 women and girls have undergone or are at risk of FGM. At the moment, France is the only European country in which offenders are convicted and no European country officially recognizes the threat of genital mutilation as a reason for asylum. Here are the voices of women who have felt encouraged and emboldened by Waris Dirie's courage. They speak out for the first time, hoping to move readers to action. At the end of the book is a comprehensive appendix listing organizations which can help.

This book offers a genealogy of the medicalisation of sexual appetite in Europe and the United States from the nineteenth to twenty-first century. Histories of sexuality have predominantly focused on the emergence of sexual identities and categories of desire. They have marginalised questions of excess and lack, the appearance of a libido that dwindles or intensifies, which became a pathological object in Europe by the nineteenth century. Through a genealogical approach that draws on the writings of Michel Foucault, A Genealogy of Appetite in the Sexual Sciences examines key 'moments' in the pathologisation of sexuality and demonstrates how medical techniques assumed critical roles in shaping modern understandings of the problem of appetite. It examines how techniques of the patient case history, elixirs and devices, measurement, diagnostic manuals and pharmaceuticals were central to the medicalisation of sexual appetite. Jacinthe Flore argues that these techniques are significant for understanding how a concern with 'how much?' has transformed medical knowledge of sexuality since the nineteenth century. The questions of 'how much?', 'how often?' and 'how intense?' thus require a genealogical investigation that pays attention to the emergence of medical techniques, the transformation of forms of knowledge and their effects on the problematisations of sexual appetite.

Sex with animals is one of the last taboos but, for a practice that is generally regarded as abhorrent, it is remarkable how many books, films, plays, paintings, and photographs depict the subject. So, what does loving animals mean? In this book the renowned historian Joanna Bourke explores the modern history of sex between humans and animals. Bourke looks at the changing meanings of "bestiality" and "zoophilia," assesses the psychiatric and sexual aspects, and she concludes by delineating an ethics of animal loving.

What does philosophy know of love? From Plato on, philosophers have struggled to pin love to the dissecting table and view it in the cold light of logic. Yet, as Arthur Danto writes in the foreword to this volume, "how incorrigibly stiff philosophy is when it undertakes to lay its icy fingers on the frilled and beating wings of the butterfly of love."

Love, elusive and philosophically intractable as it is, has long fascinated philosophers. In this collection of classic and modern writings on the topic of erotic love, Robert Solomon and Kathleen Higgins have chosen excerpts from the great philosophical texts and combined them with the most exciting new work of philosophers writing today.

The result is a broadly conceived, comprehensive, and important work, nearly as stimulating and provocative as love itself. It examines the mysteries of erotic love from a variety of philosophical perspectives and provides an impressive display of the wisdom that the world's best thinkers have brought, and continue to bring, to the study of love.

"Stunning This brilliant interdisciplinary collection is as provocative, enchanting, and richly rewarding as its topic. Unrivaled in scope and richness, blending classic and contemporary readings on love, here is a wellspring of insights for scholars, students, and general readers alike."--Mike W. Martin, author of "Self-Deception and Morality."

Some of us have had a moment in the middle of fun and sexual exploration that lead to connecting with the divine or having an epiphany about life that was far from expected. Others have been drawn to the possibilities of finding universal truths between the sheets or in the dungeon for all of their lives. Some are aware that their bodies hold the key towards knowing their spirits, but don't know which doors of desire to unlock. Others have glimpsed the limitless where they have been told that only debauchery lives, and are looking to go back for more. This and more is Sacred Kink. Modern tools of BDSM, fetishism, kink and erotic adventuring have roots that go far back into history, tools that have been used for reaching altered states of consciousness, creating spiritual epiphanies, and changing lives. Sacred Kink: The Eightfold Paths of BDSM and Beyond explores the sacred roots of kink tools, and the ways kink can be used today for sacred workings. Explore and find practical tools involving: - Negotiation, Communication and Aftercare for Sacred Kink - Catharsis, Top Trances and Exorcising Personal Demons - Ordeals, Earning Leathers, and Ending Relationships - Energetically Transmitted Diseases and Solo Sex Magic - Creating Ritual Play Spaces and Dedicated Tools - Developing Rituals for Dominance and Submission - Pain Processing and the Dialysis of Desire - Erotic Shapeshifting and Possession Workings - The Spiritual Calling of Mastery and Slavery - Kink and Chemistry Ethics - ...and so much more. Whether you're a seasoned explorer or have never delved into the depths of adventurous sex and personal truth, you hold in your hand a roadmap, a set of keys, and an invitation to journey on your own path of Sacred Kink.

This book offers a collection of original contributions to the literature on sexual crime, religion and spirituality. Does religion help people desist from sexual crime? Can it form the basis of interventions to rehabilitate people? Or does it provide justification and opportunity for committing it? What do the perpetrators say about their faith? What about the victims and survivors of sexual crime? The book asks and answers these questions and more in a unique collection of chapters - from academics, chaplains and prisoners. The book begins with an exploration of the role, history and development of chaplaincy in the prison system over the years, before providing a more personal look through the eyes of the Lead Chaplain at Rampton High Secure hospital in the UK. Subsequent chapters weave together theories of desistance from sexual crime, and analyses of perpetrators' accounts of their offending are also offered, alongside firsthand accounts of prisoners from a range of religions. The book concludes with a thoughtful journey through the book by the Lead Chaplain at HMP Stafford, UK. It will provide fresh insights for students and scholars of psychology, criminology, theology and social work, as well as for practitioners, chaplains, and readers with an interest in learning about sexual crime, religion and spirituality.

Based on leading empirical psychological research from around the world, this book offers valuable insights on women who sell sex. It synthesizes the extensive body of scholarly work on the topic of women selling sex from a psychological perspective in order to understand why women choose to do so. In turn, the book highlights a range of important sociocultural contexts surrounding the sale of sex that are major sources of stress, and examines how women cope with these circumstances. Illustrating the multi-faceted nature of selling sex, the book will contribute to debates on individual and societal responses to this major sociopolitical-and at the same time, deeply personal-issue. Including original case material and outlining future directions for researchers, it offers an informative and engaging resource for academics, researchers, students and professionals around the globe.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, this book explores the emerging topics and rapid technological developments of robotics and artificial intelligence through the lens of the evolving role of sex robots, and how they should best be designed to serve human needs. An international panel of authors provides the most up-to-date, evidence-based empirical research on the potential sexual applications of artificial intelligence. Early chapters discuss the objections to sexual activity with robots while also providing a counterargument to each objection. Subsequent chapters present the implications of robot sex as well as the security and data privacy issues associated with sexual interactions with artificial intelligence. The book concludes with a chapter highlighting the importance of a scientific, multidisciplinary approach to the study of human - robot sexuality. Topics featured in this book include: The Sexual Interaction Illusion Model. The personal companion system, Harmony, designed by Realbotix (TM). An exposition of the challenges of personal data control and protection when dealing with artificial intelligence. The current and future technological possibilities of projecting three-dimensional holograms. Expert discussion notes from an international workshop on the topic. AI Love You will be of interest to academic researchers in psychology, robotics, ethics, medical science, sociology, gender studies as well as clinicians, policy makers, and the business sector.

During the First World War the pioneer anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski found himself stranded on the Trobriand Islands, off the eastern coast of New Guinea. By living among the people he studied there, speaking their language and participating in their activities, he invented what became known as 'participant-observation'. This new type of ethnographic study was to have a huge impact on the emerging discipline of anthropology. In Sex and Repression in Savage Society Malinowski applied his experiences on the Trobriand Islands to the study of sexuality, and the attendant issues of eroticism, obscenity, incest, oppression, power and parenthood. In so doing, he both utilized and challenged the psychoanalytical methods being popularized at the time in Europe by Freud and others. The result is a unique and brilliant book that, though revolutionary when first published, has since become a standard work on the psychology of sex.

eBook available with sample pages: EB:0203299248

Modern society has introduced many new relationships and family forms and the pluralisation of sexual lifestyles in the hundred years since Freud. This book provides a systematic account of the current state of theory, developing a gender-wide model of human sexuality and outlining the implications of this for psychotherapy practice. The author argues that the development of human sexuality follows no innate biological programs, but takes place in an interpersonal relationship, often established in the early parent-child relationship. Whereas the current psychoanalytic discourse emanates from a rather rigid division of gender relations emphasizing the differences between men and women, the author develops a gender-wide model of human sexuality in which the 'masculine' and 'feminine' are integrated and contribute to the full diversity of gender identities and sexual varieties. She points to structural similarities of hetero-and homosexuality and perversion and calls for a general human sexuality that is based less on differences between men and women than with each other.

This book is a theoretical account for general psychology of how human beings meaningfully relate with their bodies-- from the basic physiological processes upwards to the highest psychological functions of religiosity, ethical reasoning, and devotional practices. It unites art and science into a new theory of affective synthesis that human minds are constantly involved in their everyday life worlds. Provides a new theory of aesthetic synthesis; Demonstrates the links between art and science; Provides a new understanding of the role of affect in human cognition.

Sex matters to us all. The Osho approach to sex begins with an understanding of how important love is in our lives, while at the same time acknowledges that the journey into love cannot exclude our innate biological energies. With this perspective, it becomes clear that the tendency for religions, and for society in general, to associate sex with sin and morality has been a great misfortune.

Sex Matters begins by deconstructing the layers of sexual repression that the condemnation of sex has inflicted on human. Throughout Sex Matters - in response to questions about everything from jealousy to premature ejaculation, the role of intimacy and the differences between men and women - Osho proposes a vision that embraces sex as a fundamental gift from nature. We learn how orgasm offers a glimpse of timelessness, thoughtlessness, and pure awareness -- biology's way of pointing toward the consciousness that helps us to understand ourselves.

Finally, we are presented with a clear choice: a repressed sexuality that leads to pornography, perversion, and a stunted humanity or a playful, respectful, and relaxed innocence that supports us in becoming fulfilled and whole, as nature intended.

Reproduction is a fundamental feature of life, it is the way life persists across the ages. This book offers new, wider vistas on this fundamental biological phenomenon, exploring how it works through the whole tree of life. It explores facets such as asexual reproduction, parthenogenesis, sex determination and reproductive investment, with a taxonomic coverage extended over all the main groups - animals, plants including 'algae', fungi, protists and bacteria. It collates into one volume perspectives from varied disciplines - including zoology, botany, microbiology, genetics, cell biology, developmental biology, evolutionary biology, animal and plant physiology, and ethology - integrating information into a common language. Crucially, the book aims to identify the commonalties among reproductive phenomena, while demonstrating the diversity even amongst closely related taxa. Its integrated approach makes this a valuable reference book for students and researchers, as well as an effective entry point for deeper study on specific topics.

Men and Sex provides a comprehensive yet accessible account of male sexuality by using the theoretical concept of the 'sexual script' to illuminate different aspects of men's sexual behaviour. Graham begins by discussing different theories of sexuality, before providing a more detailed description of sexual script theory. This proposes how male sexual behaviour can be explained as a result of cultural influences modified by individual experience and personality as well as by interaction with others. Individual chapters detail the development of sexual scripts in childhood and adolescence, masturbation, cultural influences on sexuality, heterosexual behaviour, variations and problems in sexual functioning, homosexual behaviour, transsexualism, procreative sex, coercive sexual behaviour, the impact of physical and mental health problems on sexuality, and sexuality and pornography. The concluding chapter looks at the future of male sexuality. The book makes a valuable contribution to the burgeoning literature on masculinity studies.

Freud may never have set foot in Cambridge - that hub for the twentieth century's most influential thinkers and scientists - but his intellectual impact there in the years between the two World Wars was immense. This is a story that has long languished untold, buried under different accounts of the dissemination of psychoanalysis. John Forrester and Laura Cameron present a fascinating and deeply textured history of the ways in which a set of Freudian ideas about the workings of the human mind, sexuality and the unconscious affected Cambridge men and women - from A. G. Tansley and W. H. R. Rivers to Bertrand Russell, Bernal, Strachey and Wittgenstein - shaping their thinking across a range of disciplines, from biology to anthropology, and from philosophy to psychology, education and literature. Freud in Cambridge will be welcomed as a major intervention by literary scholars, historians and all readers interested in twentieth-century intellectual and scientific life.

The concept of sex addiction took hold in the 1980s as a product of cultural anxiety. Yet, despite being essentially mythical, sex addiction has to be taken seriously as a phenomenon. Its success as a purported malady lay with its medicalization, both as a self-help movement in terms of self-diagnosis, and as a rapidly growing industry of therapists treating the new disease. The media played a role in its history, first with TV, the tabloids and the case histories of claimed celebrity victims all helping to popularize the concept, and then with the impact of the Internet. This book is a critical history of an archetypically modern sexual syndrome. Reay, Attwood and Gooder argue that this strange history of social opportunism, diagnostic amorphism, therapeutic self-interest and popular cultural endorsement is marked by an essential social conservatism: sex addiction has become a convenient term to describe disapproved sex. It is a label without explanatory force. This book will be essential reading for those interested in sexuality studies, contemporary history, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, media studies and studies of the Internet. It will also be of interest to doctors and therapists currently working in this and related fields.

Sex, for the entirety of human history, has never been about reproduction. Statistically speaking, only one out of every one thousand sexual acts between a man and a woman will result in a pregnancy. And, as we know, sex does not solely take place just between men and women. So: what is sex for? In this wide-ranging and powerful new history of sex, Dr Fern Riddell will uncover the sexual lives of our ancestors and show that, just like us, they were as preoccupied with sexual identities, masturbation, foreplay, sex and deviance; facing it with the same confusion, joy and accidental hilarity that we do today. By looking at how history has dealt with different parts of our sexual experience, we're taken on an illuminating and entertaining journey about why we have sex - and what that means today.