A newly revised collection of provocative essays on Sex and its many meanings in our culture by one of the most prolific, original, and highly regarded sexologists in the field today.. This newly updated collection features over 50 per cent new material, spotlighting many of Leonore Tiefer's popular as well as professional writings on the social construction of sexuality. It includes a new section on the creation of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), as well as new treatments of medicalization, feminist sex therapy, sex and humor, sexology and the pharmaceutical industry, and The Kiss. Tiefer's background as a sexologist is unusually broad, including animal mating behavior research, medical research, sex therapy, theories about the classification of dysfunctions, and feminist and cultural analysis. Her wit and passion are evident in such recent essays as Doing the Viagra Tango: Sex Pill as Symbol and Substance, The McDonaldization of Sex, and A New Sexual World-Not, as well as the now classic pieces Six Months at the Daily News, Women's Sexuality: Not a Matter of Health, and Am I Normal? The Question of Sex. This revised collection treats complex and controversial as

This study presents us with an insightful sociological exploration of sexual practice, within five different types of relationship and from varying perspectives of gender and age: lifelong love; serial loves; searching; devitalized relations, and parallel relations. Based on the accounts of almost two hundred adults in Finland, these real-life experiences reflect the way in which sexuality has evolved both within the lifetime of the individual, and over generations. Also examined is the impact of major historical events on love and sexual relationships - from war to economic crisis - and that of the 'spirit of the age': from the emancipatory zeal of the 1960s to the new-age holistic ideals in the 1980s.

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.

In The Promiscuity Papers, archetypal roots of promiscuity are explored. In classical Greek and Roman mythology some promiscuous father figures may be found viz. Chronos (Saturn), and Zeus (Jupiter). Another form of Saturnian promiscuous dynamic is explored in the mythological figures of Oedipus and Antigone. This is followed by presentation of a case history.Ines, a woman in her early thirties, enters analysis because she would like to solve the recurring problem of her unsuitable partnerships, in which her partners are predominantly promiscuous. The father was psychotically disturbed and the patient was the family member who offered support to him. Psychotherapy started with a stable frequency of two sessions a week. Within the transference, there appear two figures. One of a 'positive father, ' and the other as the 'all-knowing.' The latter may be compared with the mythological figure of Oedipus, whose intelligence was exceptional, being demonstrated in his redemption of Thebes from the Sphinx. All the same, Oedipus suffered from a promiscuously incestuous relationship with his mother Iocaste. During old age, when he was expelled, and accompanied by his faithful daughter Antigone, Oedipus was most probably psychotic. In the analysis, Ines has decided, after 200 hours of analysis, to reduce the frequency down to one session a week. The problem of analytic interpretation is described, as well as the effects of interpretation (when it finally takes place) that it had on the analytic relationship and analytic process. The intimate and important link between promiscuity and incest is also explored, promiscuous actualizing the incestuous. Promiscuity is a manifest sexual activity with the unknown other. Promiscuity can also be considered as a defense against paranoia.About the authorMatja Regovec is a Jungian analyst and analytical psychologist. He undertook his analytic training in Vienna while living and working in Slovenia and is a member of the London based Association of Jungian Analysts (AJA, IAAP), as well as a professional member of the Slovenian Association of Psychotherapists (ZPS).In 1993, Matja founded IPAL (Institut za psiholo ko astrologijo in psihoanalizo Ljubljana) - Ljubljana Institute for Psychological Astrology and Psychoanalysis, of which he is still the managing director. The Institute offers a professional three-year diploma course in counselling, as well as a postgraduate training in psychoanalysis (www.ipal.si). Matja has a private practice in Ljubljana and works with Jungian analytic self-experiential groups in Ljubljana, Belgrade and Budapest.

Sex pervades our culture, going far beyond the confines of the bedroom into the workplace, the church, and the media. Yet despite all the attention and even obsession devoted to sex, human sexuality remains confusing and even foreboding. What, after all, is authentic human sexuality? That is the question Judith and Jack Balswick set out to answer in this wide-ranging and probing book. Informed by sociology, psychology, and theology, the Balswicks investigate how human sexuality originates both biologically and socially. They lay groundwork for a normative Christian interpretation of sexuality, show how authentic sexuality is necessarily grounded in relationships, and explore such forms of "inauthentic sexuality" as sexual harassment, pornography, and rape. Since its first publication, Authentic Human Sexuality has established itself as a standard text at numerous colleges and seminaries. Now this third edition features updated theological and social science research, insights from current neuropsychological evidence, and an expanded biblical model of authentic sexual relationships, along with updated discussion of sexual minorities, same-sex attraction, and LGBTQ issues. A new generation of students, pastors, psychologists, and sociologists engaged in counseling will be indebted to the Balswicks for this study of an endlessly fascinating and perplexing facet of human identity.

What are the best ways to do research on the psychology of women and gender? Within feminist psychology, there is a great deal of methodological creativity and diversity. This volume, first published in 2000, highlights how familiar methods such as focus groups can be brought to bear on feminist issues. It demonstrates less common methods, such as Q-sort, phenomenological analysis, concept mapping, and discourse analysis. Moreover, it explores the role of personal values, interpersonal dynamics, and sociopolitical influences on the research process. Over 60 international contributors share insights into adolescent girls' and adult women's sexuality, violence and its prevention, life patterns and narratives, the teaching-research nexus, gender and race in clinical practice, and more. Included is a comprehensive resource guide for research, publication and teaching on methodological diversity.

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.

New Sexual Agendas tackles the urgent practical and theoretical challenges in the area of gender and sexuality. Leading theorists, activists and clinicians, including Bob Connell, Adam Sinfield, Leonore Tiefer and Jeffrey Weeks, encourage a creative exchange of knowledge across different research and applied perspectives. This volume highlights the intensity of the feelings generated by the changes occurring in sexual and gender relations, while signalling the possibilities for new strategies encompassing diversity and choice. As conservatives call for a 'return to basics' and their opponents promote policies for increasing the confidence of all people to pursue the differing comforts and pleasures of the body, free from intimidation and threat, we can learn more about how sex functions in our culture from this volume.

This book examines some of the ways in which sexuality has been described and interpreted in the West. The main models examined are: the Christian view of sex as sinful; the psychoanalytical model, including such notions as the sexual drive, infantile sexuality, the Oedipus complex, and the distinction between male and female sexuality; the 'social construction' model, which proposes that 'sexuality' is a modern concept; and the links between sexuality and spirituality. There is also some consideration of feminist and gay approaches to sexuality, and the complicated subject of male sexuality.

How can contemporary psychoanalysis be used to understand the sexuality and experiences of bisexual or lesbian women without marginalizing them? Burch explores how lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual women's experiences may be incorporated into psychoanalytic theory, arguing convincingly that the dynamics of lesbian and bisexual relationships are part of women's development and desires, rather than dysfunctions of them.

Women are in a bind. In the name of consent and empowerment, they must proclaim their desires clearly and confidently. Yet sex researchers suggest that women's desire is often slow to emerge. And men are keen to insist that they know what women-and their bodies-want. Meanwhile, sexual violence abounds. How can women, in this environment, possibly know what they want? And why do we expect them to? In this elegant, searching book-spanning science and popular culture; pornography and literature; debates on Me-Too, consent and feminism-Katherine Angel challenges our assumptions about women's desire. Why, she asks, should they be expected to know their desires? And how do we take sexual violence seriously, when not knowing what we want is key to both eroticism and personhood? In today's crucial moment of renewed attention to violence and power, Angel urges that we remake our thinking about sex, pleasure, and autonomy without any illusions about perfect self-knowledge. Only then will we fulfil Michel Foucault's teasing promise, in 1976, that 'tomorrow sex will be good again'

Ancient humans were peaceful - modern violence is avoidable. That's the basic message contained in "Saharasia," a controversial "marriage of heresies" over 10 years in the making. It will change forever your way of looking at the world, your home culture, and current events. Saharasia constitutes a revolutionary new discovery on a geographic pattern to global human behavior as deeply embedded within the scientific literature of anthropology, history and archaeology. It covers issues and events which typically are ignored in the "politically correct" academic environment, even though it was produced within that same environment. Saharasia presents the first cross-cultural, anthropological, archaeological and historical survey of human family and social institutions, tracing human violence back in time to specific times and places of first-origin. Saharasia also presents an additional controversy, given the factual identity of the violence-prone Saharasian region to be the homeland of the Islamo-fascist terror brigades. Saharasia has at several times in human history been the region from which massive armies marched out to conquer those moister regions lying at its periphery: into Europe, China, India and sub-Saharan Africa. These would be the early Indo-Aryan, Kurgan and Battle-Axe warriors, the Scythians and Huns, the Mongols, Turks, and Arab-Muslims, all of whom formed gigantic empires encompassing desert Saharasia and parts of its moister borderlands. While the analysis contained in this book starts around 12,000 BC and ends at around 1900 AD, the suggestion is clear, that the modern problem of global terrorism also springs forth from basic Saharasian-warrior roots. If you really want to know why so much of the world is in such a miserable condition, and to fully understand the current "march to war" within Islamic nations, this book will provide answers. One of the largest and most ambitious scientific and systematic, cross-cultural evaluations of human behavior ever undertaken. Originally a doctoral dissertation undertaken by the author at the University of Kansas, now supplemented with new chapters, and with hundreds of maps and illustrations. "Saharasia" is scarsely known to the wider public, given the controversial conclusions which precipitated from its development. But its findings, made as early as 1980, have been validated repeatedly by subsequent scientific discovery, and by world events. The new edition contains all-new Appendix documentation: "Update on Saharasia"reviewing archaeological evidence suggestive of an ancient period of generally peaceful human social conditions, world-wide.

A Sociology of Sex and Sexuality offers an historical sociological analysis of ideas about expressions of sexual desire, combining both primary and secondary historical and theoretical material with original research and popular imagery in the contemporary context.
While some reference is made to the sexual ideology of Classical Antiquity and of early Christianity, the major focus of the book is on the development of ideas about sex and sexuality in the context of modernity. It questions the widespread assumption that the anxieties and fears associated with old sexual mores have been overcome in the late twentieth century context, and asks whether the discourses of Queer sexual politics have successfully fractured the binary categories of heterosexuality and homosexuality.
A Sociology of Sex and Sexuality will be of interest to students in the fields of sociology, sexual history, gender studies and cultural studies.

In most animals, from bees to bulls, mice to men, it is possible to see at a glance whether an individual is male or female. How and why these differences in appearance and behavior developed and the nature and extent of the differences between males and females is a complex subject. This book reviews the latest molecular, genetic, hormonal, anatomical, and behavioral data in a wide range of species in a series of lively and highly readable articles from the world's leading experts in this field. Unashamedly Darwinian, this book brings sexual selection up to date and discusses not only a dazzling array of differences between the sexes, but probes the mechanisms by which they are produced and the adaptive significance of the differences themselves. It should have a wide appeal, especially to undergraduates and graduates in the biological and medical sciences, and should help to bridge the gap between those who study genes and molecules in the laboratory and those who study the behavior of animals in the wild.

In most animals, from bees to bulls, mice to men, it is possible to see at a glance whether an individual is male or female. How and why these differences in appearance and behavior developed and the nature and extent of the differences between males and females is a complex subject. This book reviews the latest molecular, genetic, hormonal, anatomical, and behavioral data in a wide range of species in a series of lively and highly readable articles from the world's leading experts in this field. Unashamedly Darwinian, this book brings sexual selection up to date and discusses not only a dazzling array of differences between the sexes, but probes the mechanisms by which they are produced and the adaptive significance of the differences themselves. It should have a wide appeal, especially to undergraduates and graduates in the biological and medical sciences, and should help to bridge the gap between those who study genes and molecules in the laboratory and those who study the behavior of animals in the wild.

This is the first-ever collection of this noted sexologist's original clinical studies of gender identity and role in genetics, hormones, body morphology, brain, and social assimilation and learning.

Love Three is a study of a seventeenth-century devotional poem by George Herbert; an essay on eroticizing power; and a memory palace of sexual experiences, fantasies, preferences, and limits-with Herbert's poem as the key. It is unlike anything you have ever read-a deep, attentive reading of a text and a broad analysis (personal, historical, philosophical) of humanity's most enduring theme.

A preeminent psychoanalyst explores the world of consensual S&M. An expert on the dynamics of perversion and erotic excitement, Dr. Stoller sets out on an expedition to the S&M community of West Hollywood. We meet the highly articulate Ron, who serves as a guide to the fetishes and bizarre practices of both casual and devoted proponents of sadomasochism. We are introduced to Marilyn and Claudelle, two warmly opinionated entrepreneurs of a B&D (bondage and discipline) establishment. The arcane business of S&M videos is documented by Merlin, and enthusiastic producer of pornography. Most interesting are Dr. Stoller's provocative questions to these denizens of the S&M world and his engaging musings on their answers.Like an anthropologist in New Guinea, Dr. Stoller observes the customs of these natives. He studies them in his quest for insight into the perplexing question of why some people associate pain and humiliation with intense erotic desire. Thus, his journey is not only external, but internal--into the meaning and boundaries of the term "perversion" and its place within the psyche. He investigates how the theater of the imagination is moved into the real world's reverberating complexity. In the course of this journey, Dr. Stoller changes his views, first referring to these S&M practitioners as specimens and then perceiving them, in their ambiguities and contradictions, as human beings. By joining Dr. Stoller, we find not only nuances in the meanings of consensual sadomasochism but larger implications of what being human means.

Sexual problems are approached from a psychological and educational perspective with stress placed on the importance of the enhancement of individual relationships in this new text for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse therapists, social workers and other professional groups.;Of special interest is the book's academic basis as it includes a review of the literature regarding the aetiology of psychosexual dysfunction and in the treatment that is provided.;Assessment of problems is comprehensive and the need for a tailored programme of treatment is supported by clinical examples. Problems encountered by the physically or intellectually handicapped, homosexuals and older people are addressed with sensitivity.;This cognitive-behavioural approach to the subject brings together the main therapies in a unique sythesis combined with the author's individual emphases, based on her clinical experience in Great Britain and Australia.

The disconnection between spirituality and passionate love leaves a broad sense of dissatisfaction and boredom in relationships. The author illustrates how our vitality and capacity for joy depend on restoring the soul of the sacred prostitute to its rightful place in consciouness.

How can we currently understand sexual dysfunction? How can psychodynamic theories contribute to an understanding of sexual difficulties? How can we treat sexual problems psychodynamically?;Counsellors and therapists can be hesitant about addressing the sexual problems of their clients from any perspective and sometimes lack the confidence to tackle the issues as they arise. This is the first book to describe comprehensively a specifically psychodynamic approach to sexual dysfunction. It reviews the range and nature of sexual difficulties, and evaluates the relevance of psychodynamic theory and interventions to the understanding, assessment and treatment of sexual problems with individuals and couples. It is illustrated throughout with helpful case study material. It shows how physical and cultural understandings of sexuality and sexual difficulty need to be an integrated part of work wih clients "Psychodynamic Approaches to Sexual Problems" is a useful book for all trainee and practising counsellors and therapists working within a psychodynamic or integrated framework.

Following the success of Pink Therapy (1996 Open University Press) as a practical guide for therapists, counsellors and others in related professions working with lesbian, gay and bisexual clients in affirmative ways, this volume is the first to address how this can be approached from ten of the major therapeutic perspectives. Each approach is discussed with regard to its historical and theoretical relationship to these client groups and how the approach can be beneficial or negative. Guidelines for using the perspective supportively or practically are given, along with references for further study. The volume marks an important step in the dialogue between theoretical approaches and in the future development of, and debate about, these increasingly important fields in contemporary therapy.

This book addresses two lively and active research communities, those concerned with issues of gender and those dealing with nonverbal behavior. The wide range of professional and popular interest in both these topics convinced us that presen tations of current work by researchers who bring these two areas of research together would prove stimulating. These presentations not only address the state of current work on gender and nonverbal behavior, but also suggest new avenues of investigation for those interested primarily in either topic. In other words, the questions that nonverbal communication researchers address when considering gender bring new directions to gender-related research and a like effect can be expected when the questions raised in gender studies are applied to research in nonverbal behavior. Dispersion of ideas may take another form as well. Both gender and nonverbal behavior research are notably interdisciplinary. Perhaps because of their pervasive nature, both topics have attracted the attention of a diversity of scholars. Most of the contributions in the present volume are by psychologists, but their intended audience is broad. Linguists, sociologists, and anthropologists are among those who share similar research interests. Moreover, the ideas presented here are of interest to practitioners as well as scholars. From corporations to clinics, people are interested in the subtle expression and negotiation of sex roles through non verbal communication."