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Books > Social sciences > Psychology > Sexual behaviour
Few things come more naturally to us than sex-or so it would seem.
Yet to a chimpanzee, the sexual practices and customs we take for
granted would appear odd indeed. He or she might wonder why we
bother with inconveniences like clothes, why we prefer to make love
on a bed, and why we fuss so needlessly over privacy. Evolution and
Human Sexual Behavior invites us into the thought-experiment of
imagining human sex from the vantage point of our primate cousins,
in order to underscore the role of evolution in shaping all that
happens, biologically and behaviorally, when romantic passions are
aroused. Peter Gray and Justin Garcia provide an interdisciplinary
synthesis that draws on the latest discoveries in evolutionary
theory, genetics, neuroscience, comparative primate research, and
cross-cultural sexuality studies. They are our guides through an
exploration of the patterns and variations that exist in human
sexuality, in chapters covering topics ranging from the evolution
of sex differences and reproductive physiology to the origins of
sexual play, monogamous unions, and the facts and fictions
surrounding orgasm. Intended for generally curious readers of all
stripes, this up-to-date, one-volume survey of the evolutionary
science of human sexual behavior explains why sexuality has
remained a core fascination of human beings throughout time and
across cultures.
Chili Pimping in Atlantic City: The Memoir of a Small-Time Pimp and
Hustler, the controversial autobiography of Michael Mick-Man
Gourdine, AKA the Candyman, as he was known on the street. The book
pulls no punches and provides an honest and sometimes shocking look
at what one man from the wrong side of tracks felt compelled to do
to achieve the American Dream.Gourdine became a pimp who operated
primarily on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey, while
working as a corrupt NYPD cop who specialized in narcotics
trafficking and prostitution. Employed as a police officer from
1990 to 2000, Gourdine reportedly made an estimated $2.5 to 3
million dollars in illegal graft, bribes, prostitution and drug
dealing before being fired.Gourdine was a chili pimp-that is, a
small time pimp who had between one and three girls working for
him. As a chili pimp, Gourdine didn't stay in the most expensive
hotels or eats in the most expensive restaurants; he couldn't
afford it. Instead he relied on is his ability to give his girls
more care, attention and on-the-spot dependability than a bonafide
pimp could give. Today, Gourdine recalls, "It is a sad existence
that I was lucky enough to escape and maybe some readers will avoid
after reading my book."Chili Pimping in Atlantic City describes how
Gourdine developed the stomach for the pimping game, became a
corrupt cop, learned the pimping trade and survived on the mean
streets. The author paints vivid profiles of some the interesting
characters he meets along the way. He concludes with some hard
lessons. "The best way to steer a young boy away from pimping is to
change his environment," Gourdine writes. "If a young boy is
starving, living without heat in his house, with no real men around
him, guess what he's going to take when he sees the first person
who he deems the best fit to survive in his dismal circumstances?
And believe you me, he will not be a law abiding citizen."Gourdine
now resides somewhere in New Jersey where he owns and manages
numerous properties, and changes residences often. He is married
with four sons.
How natural history made sex scientific in the eighteenth century.
If sexology-the science of sex-came into being sometime in the
nineteenth century, then how did statesmen, scientists, and
everyday people make meaning out of sex before that point? In The
Natural History of Sexuality in Early America, Greta LaFleur
demonstrates that eighteenth-century natural history-the study of
organic life in its environment-actually provided the intellectual
foundations for the later development of the scientific study of
sex. Natural historians understood the human body to be a "porous
envelope," eminently vulnerable to its environment. Yet historians
of sexuality have tended to rely on archival evidence of
genital-based or otherwise bodily sex acts for source material.
Through careful readings of both elite natural history texts and
popular print forms that circulated widely in the British North
American colonies-among them Barbary captivity, execution,
cross-dressing, and anti-vice narratives-LaFleur traces the
development of a broad knowledge of sexuality defined in terms of
the dynamic relationship between the human and the natural, social,
physical, and climatic milieu. At the heart of this book is the
question of how to produce a history of sexuality for an era in
which modern vocabularies for sex and desire were unavailable.
LaFleur demonstrates how environmental logic was used to explain
sexual behavior on a broad scale, not just among the educated elite
who wrote and read natural historical texts. LaFleur reunites the
history of sexuality with the history of race, demonstrating how
they were bound to one another by the emergence of the human
sciences. Ultimately, The Natural History of Sexuality in Early
America not only rewrites all dominant scholarly narratives of
eighteenth-century sexual behavior but also poses a major
intervention into queer theoretical understandings of the
relationship between sex and the subject.
Prepared by one of the world's leading authorities, Human Sexuality
and its Problems remains the foremost comprehensive reference in
the field. Now available in a larger format, this classic volume
continues to address the neurophysiological, psychological and
socio-cultural aspects of human sexuality and how they interact.
Fully updated throughout, the new edition places a greater emphasis
on theory and its role in sex research and draws on the latest
global research to review the clinical management of problematic
sexuality providing clear, practical guidelines for clinical
intervention. Clearly written, this highly accessible volume now
includes a new chapter on the role of theory, and separate chapters
on sexual differentiation and gender identity development,
transgender and gender non-conformity, and HIV, AIDS and other
sexually transmitted diseases. Human Sexuality and its Problems
fills a gap in the literature for academics interested in human
sexuality from an interdisciplinary perspective, as well as health
professionals involved in the management of sexual problems. Long
awaited new edition of the definitive reference text on human
sexuality Addresses the neurophysiological, psychological and
socio-cultural aspects of human sexuality and how they interact
Examines the normal sexual experience and covers the various ways
in which sex can be problematic, including dysfunctional, 'out of
control', high risk and illegal sexual behaviour Reviews the
clinical management of problematic sexuality and provides clear,
practical guidelines for clinical intervention Presents a broad
cross-disciplinary perspective of the subject area making the book
suitable for all professionals involved in the field Presents a
more theoretical approach to the study of human sexuality
reflecting recent changes in research Includes a section on brain
imaging to demonstrate the latest research findings in sexual
arousal and to compare and contrast individuals with normal and low
levels of sexual desire Discusses the use of sex as a mood
regulator and the importance of current research in this area
Discusses the impact on the internet on the modern sexual world
Explores the relevance of transgender and gender non-conformity
Contains a chapter on HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted
infections Chapter on therapy fully updated to reflect the movement
towards integration of psychological and pharmacological approaches
to management Explores the complex relationships between anger,
sexual arousal and sexual violence
Mema's house is in the poor quarter Nezahualcoyotl, a crowded urban
space on the outskirts of Mexico City where people survive with the
help of family, neighbours, and friends. This house is a sanctuary
for a group of young homosexual men who meet to chat, flirt, listen
to music, and smoke marijuana. Among the group are sex workers and
transvestites with high heels, short skirts, heavy make-up, and
voluminous hairstyles; and their partners, young, bisexual men,
wearing T-shirts and worn jeans, short hair, and maybe a moustache.
Mema, an AIDS educator and the leader of this gang of homosexual
men, invited Annick Prieur, a European sociologist, to meet the
community and conduct her fieldwork at his house. Prieur lived
there for six months between 1988 and 1991, and she has kept in
touch for more than eight years. As Prieur follows the
transvestites in their daily activities - at their work as
prostitutes or as hairdressers, at night having fun in the streets
and in discos, on visits with their families and even in prisons, a
story unfolds of love, violence, and deceit. Prieur analyzes the
complicated relations between the effeminate homosexuals, most of
them transvestites, and their partners, the masculine-looking
bisexual men, asking why these particular gender constructions
exist in the Mexican working classes, and how they can be so
widespread in a male-dominated society, the very society from which
the term "machismo" stems. Weaving empirical research with theory,
Prieur presents new analytical angles on several concepts: family,
class, domination, the role of the body, and the production of
differences among men.
Is prostitution immoral? In this book, Rob Lovering argues that it
is not. Offering a careful and thorough critique of the
many-twenty, to be exact-arguments for prostitution's immorality,
Lovering leaves no claim unchallenged. Drawing on the relevant
literature along with his own creative thinking, Lovering offers a
clear and reasoned moral defense of the world's oldest profession.
Lovering demonstrates convincingly, on both consequentialist and
nonconsequentialist grounds, that there is nothing immoral about
prostitution between consenting adults. The legal implications of
this view are also brought to bear on the current discourse
surrounding this controversial topic.
Adam Phillips uses the idea of flirtation to explore the virtues of
being uncommitted - to people, to ideas, to methods - and the
pleasures of uncertainty. These buoyant essays promote a
psychoanalysis with a light touch, a psychoanalysis for pleasure
and curiosity. 'In On Flirtation, he has again deployed all his
erudition and perception to beguiling effect . . . Adam Phillips
may well be one of our greatest contemporary psychoanalytic
thinkers.' Independent on Sunday
"This history is . . . the first fully-fleshed story of African
Nairobi in all of its complexity which foregrounds African
experiences. Given the overwhelming white dominance in the written
sources, it is a remarkable achievement."--Claire Robertson,
"International Journal of African Historical Studies "
"White's book . . . takes a unique approach to a largely unexplored
aspect of African History. It enhances our understanding of African
social history, political economy, and gender studies. It is a book
that deserves to be widely read."--Elizabeth Schmidt, "American
Historical Review "
Breaching the Citadel, part of the Sexual Violence and Impunity in
South Asia series, supported by the International Development
Research Centre, Canada, puts India in focus, showcasing new and
pathbreaking research on sexual violence and impunity. Bringing
together both young and established scholars, the book explores
medical protocols, the functioning of the law, the psychosocial
making of impunity, histories of sexual violence in places like
Kashmir, the media, and sectarian violence, among other timely
topics. The essays Urvashi Butalia has collected here were
developed through comparative research and a series of workshops,
so each entry is peer-reviewed and on the cutting edge of the
field. Breaching the Citadel breaks new ground as it uncovers and
analyzes the link between sexual violence and the structures and
institutions that enable perpetrators to act with impunity.
Never before have we lived in a time in which sport and gay
identity are more visible, discussed, debated-and even celebrated.
However, in an era in which the sports closet is heralded as the
last remaining stronghold of heterosexuality, the terrain for the
gay athlete remains contradictory at best. Gay athletes in American
team sports are thus living a paradox: told that sport represents
the "final closet" in American culture while at the same time
feeling ostracized, labeled a "distraction" for teams, dubbed
locker room "problems," and experiencing careers which are halted
or cut short altogether. Media and the Coming Out of Gay Male
Athletes in American Team Sports is the first of its kind, building
upon the narratives of athletes and how their coming out
experiences are shaped, transmitted and received through pervasive,
powerful, albeit imperfect commercial media. Featuring in-depth
interviews with out-athletes such as Jason Collins, Dave Kopay,
Billy Bean and John Amaechi; media gatekeepers from outlets like
ESPN and USA Today; and league representatives from Major League
Baseball and the National Football League, this book explores one
of the starkest juxtapositions in athletics: there are no active
out players in the NFL, NBA, MLB, or NHL, yet the number of
athletes coming out at virtually every other level of sport is
unprecedented. Interviews are fused with qualitative media analysis
of coming out stories and informed by decades of literature on the
unique intersection of sport, media, and sexual identity.
The Oxford Handbook of Close Relationships provides the best, most
in-depth, and most comprehensive summary of the study of close
relationships. The book is divided into eight sections:
introductory comments, major theoretical approaches to
relationships, attraction in relationships, models of relationship
functioning and processes, daily relationship functioning,
psychological and physical well-being in relationships,
relationships across development and time, and concluding comments.
The 37 chapters showcase the most important classic and
contemporary theories, models, and empirical research that have
been conducted across three dozen major topic areas within the
field of close relationships. Chapter topics range in scope from
evolutionary approaches to understanding relationships, the "battle
between the sexes," cultural influences on relationships, female
sexuality, personality in relationships, intimate partner violence,
relationships and health, social development, and adult
relationship outcomes. Each chapter is structured around three
themes: (1) the most important and foundational principles, ideas,
and findings on each chapter topic, (2) the most important and
novel emerging themes and issues relevant to each topic, and (3)
the newest and most promising directions for future research.
Current, comprehensive, and with heretofore unmatched breadth and
depth, this volume will serve as a roadmap for future theory and
research in the study of close relationship during the next decade.
Research has documented that despite knowing the risks of
unprotected anal intercourse, increasing numbers of gay men are not
using condoms, a practice that has become known as Barebacking.
This groundbreaking book summarizes the research findings about who
is barebacking, where they are doing it and why they say they are
engaging in unprotected sex. Using case examples from the authors'
psychotherapy practice, this book allows men who bareback to speak
for themselves. The author describes the role that the Internet
plays in facilitating unsafe sexual encounters, as well as how
alcohol and club drugs, namely crystal methamphetemine use are also
central to the increase in unsafe sex. He also explores how
committed male couples are wrestling with this issue. While not
denying the public health issues involved in barebacking nor the
dangers inherent to an individual's physical or mental health, the
author takes a balanced look at the variety of profound needs that
are met by this seemingly reckless behavior in an attempt to help
readers understand this important phenomenon. targeted to
professors and students of human sexuality, health care
professionals as well as gay men and anyone else who wants
compassionate, sophisticated and nuanced insights into what for
many people is one of the most perplexing aspects of today's gay
male culture and life style. The author does not make any claims
for an easy or sure fire way to help stop the rising tide of high
risk sexual behaviors, but offers suggestions for ways that health
care professionals can engage men who are barebacking in
conversations and treatment approaches that can help men who
bareback better understand themselves and address the issues that
propel them to do it without being moralistic, sex-negative or
homophobic.
"Sexology Uncensored" brings together, for the first time, many of
the key documents of the modern science of sexuality that emerged
in the late nineteenth century. The early pioneers of the new field
of sexology examined and classified sexual behaviours, identities
and relations. For years much of the material here has been
"censored" - difficult to obtain, subject to restrictive
circulation, or available only in medical archives. This volume
offers readers access to the primary materials on which
contemporary sexology is founded and, as such, it is an invaluable
record for all those interested in how we have come to think about
sex and sexuality over the last one hundred years.
The extracts in "Sociology Uncensored" (which date from the
1880s to the 1940s) are organized thematically: gender and sexual
difference; homosexualities; transsexuality and bisexuality;
heterosexuality; marriage and sex manuals; reproductive control;
eugenics; race; and other sexual proclivities.
This book will be essential reading for researchers, teachers
and students interested in the history and study of sex and of
great interest to the general reader.
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.
The aftermath of Algeria's revolutionary war for independence
coincided with the sexual revolution in France, and in this book
Todd Shepard argues that these two movements are inextricably
linked. Sex, France, and Arab Men is a history of how and why-from
the upheavals of French Algeria in 1962 through the 1970s-highly
sexualized claims about Arabs were omnipresent in important public
French discussions, both those that dealt with sex and those that
spoke of Arabs. Shepard explores how the so-called sexual
revolution took shape in a France profoundly influenced by the
ongoing effects of the Algerian revolution. Shepard's analysis of
both events alongside one another provides a frame that renders
visible the ways that the fight for sexual liberation, usually
explained as an American and European invention, developed out of
the worldwide anticolonial movement of the mid-twentieth century.
Sex Differences serves as an advanced text for courses in
evolutionary and human biology, psychology, and sexuality and
gender studies. It also serves as a reference source for academic
professionals in these disciplines. The book covers the evolution
of sex and sex differences, and sex differences and sexual
strategies in non-human and human animals. The final chapter
addresses issues of sex and gender in interpersonal relationships,
organizations and politics. Diagrams, graphs, charts, and tables
illustrate key concepts; cartoons and photos provide visual breaks
and an element of humor.
Key Features
* Examines sexual differences from a multi-level comparative
approach
* Contains a thorough coverage of literature through 1998 and into
1999
* Illustrates pages with a generous use of cartoons, photos,
figures, and diagrams
* Invites bonus learning with special interest boxes interspersed
throughout text
* Presents a critical analysis
* Includes a combination of feminist and evolutionary thinking
This book focuses on the clinical, social and psychological aspects
of HIV among gay men and examines the complex factors that can
contribute to HIV risk in this key population. With the target to
end all HIV transmissions in the UK by 2030 in mind, Jaspal and
Bayley combine elements of HIV medicine and social psychology to
identify the remaining barriers to effective HIV prevention among
gay men. The authors take the reader on a journey through the
history of HIV, its science and epidemiology and its future,
demonstrating the vital role of history, society and psychology in
understanding the trajectory of the virus. Underpinned by theories
from social psychology and clinical snapshots from practice, this
book considers how psychological constructs, such as identity, risk
and sexuality, can impinge on physical health outcomes. This
refreshing and thought-provoking text is an invaluable resource for
scholars, clinicians and students working in the field of HIV.
Originally published in 1953, the material presented in Sexual
Behavior in the Human Female was derived from personal interviews
with nearly 6,000 women; from studies in sexual anatomy,
physiology, psychology, and endocrinology. The study revealed the
incidence and frequency with which women participate in various
types of sexual activity and how such factors as age, decade of
birth, and religious adherence are reflected in patterns of sexual
behavior. The authors make comparisons of female and male sexual
activities and investigate the factors which account for the
similarities and differences between female and male patterns of
behavior and provide some measure of the social significance of the
various types of sexual behavior.
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.
'It's the kind of book that makes you wonder, 'why wasn't this
written before?' It could change lives' EVENING STANDARD 'Turns
everything you've been taught about sex on its head' RUBY RARE An
urgent, myth-busting book that dismantles sex misinformation and
reimagines sexual freedom for today. Clueless about everything from
her own anatomy to relationships, Sophia Smith Galer's sex
education classes left her with more questions than answers. But
what she didn't know was that this lack of knowledge was about to
turn her life upside down - as it does to countless people in the
UK every year. Thanks to inadequate sex education, many of us are
finishing school knowing more about STDs and condoms than the
bigger sexual picture - our own physicality, pleasure and consent.
And the effects can last a lifetime. In Losing It, Smith Galer
shares the eye-opening stories of ordinary people affected by sex
misinformation and finds that many of us are unable to access the
world of sexual freedom that we've been promised. She draws on her
own experiences - and the expertise of a new generation of sex
educators - to uncover a world that subscribes to a wide catalogue
of sex myths. This book tackles: The Virginity Myth: Does having
sex for the first time alter us biologically? The Sexlessness Myth:
Who is abstaining and why? The Virility Myth: Why do men feel so
much pressure to have sex? The Consent Myth: Is there more to it
than just saying no? Losing It challenges the status quo and
empowers people from all backgrounds and any age to rewrite the
story of their sex lives.
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