The unprecedented mainstreaming of the global pornography industry is transforming the sexual politics of intimate and public life, popularising new forms of hardcore misogyny, and strongly contributing to the sexualisation of children. Yet challenges to the pornography industry continue to be dismissed as uncool, anti-sex and moral panics. With contributions from leading world experts and activists, "Big Porn Inc" offers a cutting edge expose of the hidden realities of a multi-billion dollar global industry that promotes itself as a fashionable life-style choice. Unmasking the lies behind the selling of porn as 'just a bit of fun' this book reveals the shocking truths of an industry that trades in violence, crime and degradation. This fearless book will change the way you think about pornography forever. Contributors include: Abigail Bray; Anna van Heeswijk; Anne Mayne; Asja Armanda; Betty McLellan; Caroline Norma; Caroline Taylor; Catharine A MacKinnon; Christopher Kendall; Chyng Sun; Diana Russell; Diane L Rosenfeld; Gail Dines; Helen Pringle; Hiroshi Nakasatomi; Jeffrey Masson; Julia Long; Linda Thompson; Maggie Hamilton; Matt McCormack Evans.; Meagan Tyler; Melinda Liszewski; Melinda Tankard Reist; Melissa Farley; Natalie Nenadic; Nina Funnell; Renate Klein; Robert Jensen; Robi Sonderegger; Ruchira Gupta; Sheila Jeffreys; and, Susan Hawthorne.

What does a free-spirited, fifty-something professional do when she breaks up with her non-committal Buddhist boyfriend and longs for a life partner? She holds a 'letting go' ceremony with the boyfriend, challenges herself to go on 50 dates, takes a few lovers, and voila! Finding Mr. Right becomes a sexy dating project. Set in the SF Bay Area world of personal growth workshops and spiritual ceremonies, Fifty First Dates after Fifty traces the adventurous path of Carolyn's universal quest for love. The goal of fifty pulls her forward through the highs and lows of dating-magical and ecstatic, pining and painful-while her heart soars, falls, and keeps on going. Buoyed by her dating project, she avoids settling for the wrong guy, discovers the type of man she wants, reconciles a love of independence and sex with her desire for commitment and emotional connection, and finds the unique partner for her. This upbeat memoir about the search for a partner in midlife is also a celebration of a woman's unabashed sexuality. Erotic in places, funny in others, it offers a positive view of dating as an enjoyable journey of self-discovery and self-love along the way to one's own Mr. Right.

Prior to the Spanish conquest, the Nahua indigenous peoples of central Mexico did not have a notion of "sex" or "sexuality" equivalent to the sexual categories developed by colonial society or those promoted by modern Western peoples. In this innovative ethnohistory, Pete Sigal seeks to shed new light on Nahua concepts of the sexual without relying on the modern Western concept of sexuality. Along with clerical documents and other Spanish sources, he interprets the many texts produced by the Nahua. While colonial clerics worked to impose Catholic beliefs--particularly those equating sexuality and sin--on the indigenous people they encountered, the process of cultural assimilation was slower and less consistent than scholars have assumed. Sigal argues that modern researchers of sexuality have exaggerated the power of the Catholic sacrament of confession to change the ways that individuals understood themselves and their behaviors. At least until the mid-seventeenth century, when increased contact with the Spanish began to significantly change Nahua culture and society, indigenous peoples, particularly commoners, related their sexual lives and imaginations not just to concepts of sin and redemption but also to pleasure, seduction, and rituals of fertility and warfare.

How do you convince men to charge across heavily mined beaches into deadly machine-gun fire? Do you appeal to their bonds with their fellow soldiers, their patriotism, their desire to end tyranny and mass murder? Certainly--but if you're the US Army in 1944, you also try another tack: you dangle the lure of beautiful French women, waiting just on the other side of the wire, ready to reward their liberators in oh so many ways.
That's not the picture of the Greatest Generation that we've been given, but it's the one Mary Louise Roberts paints to devastating effect in "What Soldiers Do." Drawing on an incredible range of sources, including news reports, propaganda and training materials, official planning documents, wartime diaries, and memoirs, Roberts tells the fascinating and troubling story of how the US military command systematically spread--and then exploited--the myth of French women as sexually experienced and available. The resulting chaos--ranging from flagrant public sex with prostitutes to outright rape and rampant venereal disease--horrified the war-weary and demoralized French population. The sexual predation, and the blithe response of the American military leadership, also caused serious friction between the two nations just as they were attempting to settle questions of long-term control over the liberated territories and the restoration of French sovereignty.
While never denying the achievement of D-Day, or the bravery of the soldiers who took part, "What Soldiers Do" reminds us that history is always more useful--and more interesting--when it is most honest, and when it goes beyond the burnished beauty of nostalgia to grapple with the real lives and real mistakes of the people who lived it.

'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

Published by Sinauer Associates, an imprint of Oxford University Press. In this textbook, Simon LeVay and Janice Baldwin aim to help students understand the diversity of human sexual expression as well as the diversity of perspectives from which sexuality can be studied. Well known for its high-quality presentation of biological aspects of sexuality, Human Sexuality, Fourth Edition, devotes rich coverage to the insights gained from cognitive science, social psychology, sociology, feminism, and cross-cultural studies, along with both moral and political discourse on sexual themes. The fourth edition provides up-to-date coverage of all topics, ranging from gay marriage in New York to the latest developments in contraceptive technology and exciting findings on pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV. Still the leader in terms of its biological coverage, the fourth edition also has expanded coverage of many other issues, ranging from sex-therapy exercises to learning theories of gender and paraphilias.

This book aims to reflect on how to translate "queer" in the context of Latin America. Queer theory is becoming consolidated on an international scale as an effort to understand dissident bodies and their inventions. But how can we utilize such a rich body of literature and proposals without merely applying in the Global South what has been formulated in the Global North?Through meetings between dissident bodies in the Global South, the book suggests that the theoretical-poetic inventions formulated in this part of the world cannot be forgotten and proposes a discussion on how to approach queer theory from a decolonial point of view. There is still only a scant body of literature that systematizes and approaches these questions from a Latin American point of view; or, to use the term that gives this book its name, the "tropics." The book points out the necessity of staying aware of the connections between western modernity and colonial practices. The book therefore invites us to pass through borders, to question limits, and to allow ourselves to be affected by Others, a fundamental exercise in the context of social inequality as drastic as that in which the majority of the population live in Latin America and in the Global South in general. Theories, like bodies, travel; in being translated, they transform themselves. The movements and the bending of bodies and theories are disturbing and subversive. Queer in the Tropics arises from these translations, from this bending, and from these subversions.

Here is a lively look at how Shakespeare's treatment of human sexuality in his plays and poems relates to the sexual conventions, sexual mores, and actual sexual behaviors of his day.
Pre-eminent Shakespeare critic Stanley Wells draws on historical and anecdotal sources to present an illuminating account of sexual behavior--and its consequences--in Shakespeare's time, particularly in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Shakespeare's Stratford was a hotbed of small-town gossip; the town's records reveal many cases of slander involving accusations of cuckoldry and whoredom, as well as many prosecutions for fornication, sexual "incontinence," and adultery. Wells thoroughly explores this milieu, demonstrating what we know or can deduce of the sex lives of Shakespeare and members of his family and providing a fascinating account of depictions of sexuality in the poetry of the period. Wells even points to specific recorded events that find their way into lines and subplots in the plays.
In the second half of the book, Wells goes on to explore the variety of ways in which Shakespeare treats sexuality in his plays and how he relates sexuality to love. Chapters cover everything from the fun that Shakespeare gets out of sex in his comedies; to the ways he relates sexual desire to both lust and love; to sexual jealousy in four major plays; and to Romeo and Juliet as the play in which Shakespeare focuses most centrally on issues relating to sex, love, and the relationship between them. "Whores and Saints" looks at his portrayals of the extremes of womanhood, and a final chapter, "Just Good Friends," investigates his depiction of same-gender relationships.
Whether as a source of comedy, drama, debate, or passion, sex in Shakespeare's plays and poems is always intriguing, and there is no better guide to this subject than Stanley Wells.

What happens when enemies work to advance similar goals? Who wins, who loses, and why? In Frenemies, Nancy Whittier addresses this question through a study of feminist and conservative opposition to pornography, campaigns against child sexual abuse, and engagement on the Violence Against Women Act. Drawing on extensive research, Whittier shows how feminist and conservative activists interacted with each other and with the federal government, how their interaction affected them, and what each side achieved. Whittier re-conceptualizes relationships between social movements, presenting a model of how "frenemies"-groups that are neither allies nor opponents-work toward related goals. She outlines the dynamics and paths of frenemy relationships, describing the unintended consequences for the groups involved and for their respective movements at large. With high levels of political polarization across the U.S., Frenemies provides a crucial look at both the promise and the risk of cooperation across political differences.

Thoroughly revised and updated in this third edition, Perspectives on Marriage is a comprehensive and multidisciplinary anthology ideal for courses in the theology and spirituality of marriage. This edition features thirteen new articles and incorporates the best of contemporary perspectives on marriage and sexuality. The selections represent a wide range of approaches, from the historical and canonical to the sociological, psychological, and ministerial. Striking a balance between solid theological material and stimulating readings on today's issues, the volume explores marriage in its historical context; current views on the theology of marriage; the meanings and transitions of marriage; attitudes toward sexuality; communication, conflict, and change; commitment, divorce, and annulment; the spirituality of marriage; and various religious perspectives on marriage. The third edition includes a new section on issues that affect marriage--such as the commercialization of marriage and the financial stresses accompanying marriage--as well as new selections on such topics as same-sex marriage, cohabitation, the theology of dating, and counseling. Each essay is enhanced by a detailed editors' introduction and by helpful discussion questions. Rich, provocative, and challenging, Perspectives on Marriage, Third Edition, is the most extensive and up-to-date reader of its kind.

Sex is cheap. Coupled sexual activity has become more widely available than ever. Cheap sex has been made possible by two technologies that have little to do with each other-the wide uptake of the Pill and high-quality pornography-and its distribution made more efficient by a third, the uptake of online dating. Together, they drive down the cost of real sex, have created a massive slow-down in the development of significant relationships, put women's fertility at risk, and have even taken a toll on men's marriageability. What the West has witnessed of late is not the social construction of sexuality or marriage or family forms toward different possibilities as a product of political will, but technology-driven social change. This revolution in sexual autonomy also ushered in an era of plastic sexuality and prompted the flourishing on non-heterosexual identities. This book takes readers on a tour inside the American mating market, and highlights key patterns that characterize young adults' experience today, including the early timing of first sex in relationships, overlapping partners, the hazards of online dating, frustrating returns on their relational investments, and a failure to link future goals like marriage with how they are conducting their current relationships. Drawing upon several large nationally-representative surveys, in-person interviews with 100 men and women, and the assertions of scholars ranging from evolutionary psychologists to gender theorists, what emerges is a story about social change, technological breakthroughs, and the unintended consequences of women's economic success. Sex and its satisfactions are becoming increasingly important in contemporary life. No longer playing a supporting role in enduring relationships, sex has emerged as a central priority in relationship development and continuation. But unravel the layers, and it is obvious that the emergence of "industrial sex" is far more a reflection of men's interests than women's.

Our lives are full of small tensions, our closest relationships full of struggle: between woman and man, artist and customer, purist and commercialist, professional and client - and between the dominant and the submissive. In "Dominatrix", Danielle J. Lindemann draws on extensive fieldwork and interviews with professional dominatrices in New York City and San Francisco to offer a sophisticated portrait of these unusual specialists, their work, and their clients. Prior research on sex work has focused primarily on prostitutes and most studies of BDSM absorb prodomme/client relationships without exploring the professional aspect that makes them unique. Lindemann satisfies our curiosity about these paid encounters, shining a light on one of the most secretive and least understood of personal relationships and unthreading a heretofore unexamined patch of our social tapestry. Upending the idea that these erotic laborers engage in simple exchanges and revealing the therapeutic and analytic nature of their work, Lindemann makes a major contribution to cultural studies, sociology, and queer studies with her analysis of how gender, power, sexuality, and hierarchy shape all of our social experiences.

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, Cubans migrated to New York City to organize and protest against Spanish colonial rule. While revolutionary wars raged in Cuba, expatriates envisioned, dissected, and redefined meanings of independence and nationhood. An underlying element was the concept of Cubanidad, a shared sense of what it meant to be Cuban. Deeply influenced by discussions of slavery, freedom, masculinity, and United States imperialism, the question of what and who constituted "being Cuban" remained in flux and often, suspect. The first book to explore Cuban racial and sexual politics in New York during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Suspect Freedoms chronicles the largely unexamined and often forgotten history of more than a hundred years of Cuban exile, migration, diaspora, and community formation. Nancy Raquel Mirabal delves into the rich cache of primary sources, archival documents, literary texts, club records, newspapers, photographs, and oral histories to write what Michel Rolph Trouillot has termed an "unthinkable history." Situating this pivotal era within larger theoretical discussions of potential, future, visibility, and belonging, Mirabal shows how these transformations complicated meanings of territoriality, gender, race, power, and labor. She argues that slavery, nation, and the fear that Cuba would become "another Haiti" were critical in the making of early diasporic Cubanidades, and documents how, by the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Afro-Cubans were authors of their own experiences; organizing movements, publishing texts, and establishing important political, revolutionary, and social clubs. Meticulously documented and deftly crafted, Suspect Freedoms unravels a nuanced and vital history.

Much has been written about the contribution of ancient Greece to modern discourses of homosexuality, but Rome's significant role has been largely overlooked. Ancient Rome and the Construction of Modern Homosexual Identities explores the contested history of responses to Roman antiquity, covering areas such as literature, the visual arts, popular culture, scholarship, and pornography. Essays by scholars working across a number of disciplines analyse the demonization of Rome and attempts to write it out of the history of homosexuality by early activists such as John Addington Symonds, who believed that Rome had corrupted ideal (and idealized) 'Greek love' through its decadence and sexual licentiousness. The volume's contributors also investigate the identification with Rome by men and women who have sought an alternative ancestry for their desires. The volume asks what it means to look to Rome instead of Greece, theorizes the way in which Rome itself appropriates Greece, and explores the consequences of such appropriations and identifications, both ancient and modern. From learned discussions of lesbian cunnilingus in Renaissance commentaries on Martial and Juvenal, to disgust at the sexual excesses of the emperors, to the use of Rome by the early sexologists, to modern pornographic films that linger on the bodies of gladiators and slaves, Rome has been central to homosexual desires and experiences. By interrogating the desires that create engagements with the classical past, the volume illuminates both classical reception and the history of sexuality.

Sara Moslener sheds light on the contemporary purity movement by examining how earlier movements established the rhetorical and moral frameworks utilized by two of today's leading purity organizations, True Loves Waits and Silver Ring Thing. Her investigation reveals that purity work over the last two centuries has developed in concert with widespread fears of changing traditional gender roles and sexual norms, national decline, and global apocalypse. In Virgin Nation Moslener highlights various points in U.S. history when evangelical beliefs and values have seemed to provide viable explanations for and solutions to widespread cultural crises, resulting in the growth of their cultural and political influence. By asserting a causal relationship between sexual immorality, national decline, and apocalyptic anticipation, leaders have shaped a purity rhetoric that positions Protestant evangelicalism as the salvation of American civilization. Nineteenth-century purity reformers, Moslener shows, utilized a nationalist discourse that drew upon racialized and sexualized fears of national decline and pointed to sexual immorality as the cause of Anglo-Saxon decline, and national decay. In the early to mid-twentieth century, fundamentalist leaders such as Billy Graham and Carl F.H. Henry sought to establish an intellectually sound millennialist theology that linked sexual immorality, national vulnerability, and the expectation of imminent nuclear apocalypse. Then with the resurgence of Christian fundamentalism in the 1970s, formerly apolitical social conservatives found themselves swayed by the nationalist and prophetic ideologies of the Moral Majority, which also linked sexual immorality to national decline and pending apocalypse. However, millennialist theologies, relevant at the height of the cold war, had mostly disappeared from political discourse by the 1970s when the Red Scare began to fade from popular consciousness. For contemporary purity advocates, says Moslener, the main obstacle to moral and national restoration is sexual immorality, a cultural blight traceable to the excesses of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Today the movement positions the adolescents who embody sexual purity as an embattled sexual minority poised to save America from the repercussions of its own moral turpitude, with or without government assistance.

His first book, "The Great Immigration Scandal" (2004), blew the whistle on abuses within the Home Office and led to the resignation of the immigration minister, Beverley Hughes. Although attacked at the time by the government and the 'liberal' media for alarmism, Moxon's analysis has now been adopted by most of the major political parties. Indeed his views on the dangers of multiculturalism were even echoed by the Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality, leading the Evening Standard to claim 'Moxon appears not so much a racist as a visionary'. But immigration was never his primary interest, in fact he joined the Home Office in order to study its HR policy, as part of a decade-long investigation of men-women. This book is the result. Notwithstanding its provocative title, "The Woman Racket" is a serious scientific investigation into one of the key myths of our age - that women are oppressed by the 'patriarchal' traditions of Western societies. Drawing on the latest developments in evolutionary psychology, Moxon finds that the opposite is true - men, or at least the majority of low-status males - have always been the victims of deep-rooted prejudice. As the prejudice is biologically derived, it is unconscious and can only be uncovered with the tools of scientific psychology. The book reveals this prejudice in fields as diverse as healthcare, employment, family policy and politics: compared to the long and bloody struggle for universal male suffrage, women were given the vote 'in an historical blink of the eye'.

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

In modern-day media, depictions of ancient Egyptian society are of a highly sexualised, lustful culture, but how accurate are these depictions of a people so shrouded in mystery and legend that it is sometimes hard to tell truth from fiction? In this fascinating and intimate insight into ancient Egyptian sex and sexuality, Charlotte Booth demystifies an ancient way of life, drawing on archaeological evidence and the written record to build a picture of what really went on in the bedrooms of the pharaohs and their subjects. Sex was a prominent part of ancient Egyptian society. It featured heavily in religion, mythology and artwork, and was not considered the taboo it is sometimes treated as in modern cultures. This book examines all aspects of ancient Egyptian sex lives, from idealised beauty and attitudes towards sexuality, to representations of fertility in art and the relationship between sex and religion. Many of the trials and tribulations that were faced are as relevant today as they were in the past: marriage, divorce and adultery are all discussed, as well as prostitution, homosexuality, sexual health and fertility. Whilst many of the remedies seem bizarre to the modern mind, some of the attitudes are surprisingly liberal, and all make for fascinating reading. From Akhenaten and his famously beautiful queen, Nefertiti, to the seductive Cleopatra's affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, Booth provides a tantilising glimpse into this extremely personal aspect of ancient Egyptian life.

This enlightening work investigates the history, incidence, and causes of a unique sexual lifestyle pursued by increasing numbers of couples. It is called by many names, and lived in a variety of ways by different couples. The most common terms used to describe it are 'hotwife' or 'cuckold lifestyle.' This sexual practice, a form of sexual nonmonogamy, is distinguished from swinging and polyamory in that the husband rarely seeks sexual contact outside the marriage except for participation in group sex with his wife and other men, while the wife is permitted and often encouraged to pursue unrestrained sexual encounters with other men. The author includes interviews and comments from couples living the lifestyle throughout the U.S., and presents the stories in an attempt to determine the history of this sexual practice and its role in society and in relationships. He explores the psychological, social, biological, and evolutionary underpinnings of this uncommon and socially taboo behavior in an effort to make it more comprehensible to those engaged in the lifestyle and those who are just curious.

aAt her best, Moore has a frank, breezy manner that may be partly due to her practical experience outside academe. . . . Sperm Counts is a lively, funny read.a
--Camille Paglia in "The Chronicle Review"

aWhile nearly every point she makes about the hidden significance of sperm is a home run, ultimately, this is an academic sociological study written in an appropriately starchy style. . . . [that] results in a fascinating read packed with conclusions.a -- "City Paper"

aSo fascinating and fresh. . . . Should be required reading for scholars in sexuality/queer studies, womenas and gender studies, social studies of science and cultural studies. . .. Essential.a--"Choice"

aSperm Counts is careful to include the history of semen research, as well as examining its role today. . . . [Moore] approach[es] the topic of semen with precision and diligence.a
--"Bitch"

aCartoon line-drawings of sperm wriggle over each page of text in this dissection of the ways societal views of sperm shape culture. A feminist account backed by sociological and scientific research, Mooreas academic tome is accessible to the masses.a
--"Bust"

Moore has analyzed religious, social, erotic and medical-scientifc investments in sperm, singular and plural.a--"Feminist Review"

aIn Sperm Counts, Moore's new book about the cultural meanings of sperm, she tells this story to illustrate her own childhood naivetA(c) about a substance that, as she now sees it, is far from simple. These days, according to Moore, sperm has tremendous cultural meaning--and looking at it in its many contexts, from children's books to pornography, can tell us a great deal about the skittish state of American masculinity. . . .Sperm Counts is a serious book, and the first on its subject. But it also includes anecdotes from Mooreas life, lending it a more conversational tone than most academic works. The bookas margins are even squiggled with sketches of sperm--flip the pages and they swim around. (This is a subject matter, after all, that requires a certain degree of levity.) Moore happily lists spermatic nicknames (ababy gravy, a agentlemenas relish, a apimp juicea) before skewering, in a later chapter, the burgeoning home sperm-test industry (sample ad slogan: aI donat know how that semen got in my underwear!a).a
--"Salon.com"

a[Moore] examines how sperm is seen through a variety of social lenses, including pornography, sperm banking, childrenas books on reproduction and criminal DNA evidence.a
--"Between the Lines Magazine"

aIrresistable. . . . A really rich read.a
--feministing.com

aIncredibly well researched and captivating read.a
--Girlwithpen.blogspot.com

aA clever yet comprehensive look at the asubstancea of manhood. Moore goes where few scholars dare to tread, and uses bodily fluids as a revealing window through which to observe the current nature of sexuality and gender relations.a
--Michael S. Kimmel, author of "Manhood in America: A Cultural Study"

aSperm Counts is a serious book, and the first on its subject. But it also includes anecdotes from Moore's life, lending it a more conversational tone than most academic works. The book's margins are even squiggled with sketches of sperm -- flip the pages and they swim around. (This is a subject matter, after all, that requires a certain degree of levity.) Moore happily lists spermatic nicknames ("baby gravy," "gentlemen'srelish," "pimp juice") before skewering, in a later chapter, the burgeoning home sperm-test industry (sample ad slogan: "I don't know how that semen got in my underwear!").a
--Salon.com

"In this intriguing feminist sociological account of sperm, Moore takes a subject we think we knew all about and proceeds to examine the multi-dimensional facets of its cultural subtexts. What is so unusual about this provocative book is the way Moore meshes history, technology, medicine, criminology, gender studies, children's books, and porn in her depiction of sperm as a manifestation of masculinity. Sperm Counts is witty, erudite, and informative-- a gem of social constructionist scholarship."
--Judith Lorber, author of "Paradoxes of Gender" and "Breaking the Bowls"

aMoore has crafted a smart and surprisingly funny book about semen. Original and refreshing, Sperm Counts follows the alittle guysa through laboratories, childrenas books, sex work, crime scenes, and bodies, illuminating varied meanings and representations of manhood and masculinity. This is engaged feminist scholarship at its best.a
--Monica J. Casper, author of "The Making of the Unborn Patient: A Social Anatomy of Fetal Surgery"

It has been called sperm, semen, seed, cum, jizz, spunk, gentlemen's relish, and splooge. But however the "tacky, opaque liquid that comes out of the penis" is described, the very act of defining "sperm" and "semen" depends on your point of view. For Lisa Jean Moore, how sperm comes to be known is based on who defines it (a scientist vs. a defense witness, for example), under what social circumstances it is found (a doctor's office vs. a crime scene), and for what purposes it will be used (invitro fertilization vs. DNA analysis). Examining semen historically, medically, and culturally, Sperm Counts is a penetrating exploration of its meaning and power.

Using a "follow that sperm" approach, Moore shows how representations of sperm and semen are always in flux, tracing their twisting journeys from male reproductive glands to headline news stories and presidential impeachment trials. Much like the fluid of semen itself can leak onto fabrics and into bodies, its meanings seep into our consciousness over time. Moore's analytic lens yields intriguing observations of how sperm is "spent" and "reabsorbed" as it spurts, swims, and careens through penises, vaginas, test tubes, labs, families, cultures, and politics.

Drawn from fifteen years of research, Sperm Counts examines historical and scientific documents, children's "facts of life" books, pornography, the Internet, forensic transcripts and sex worker narratives to explain how semen got so complicated. Among other things, understanding how we produce, represent, deploy and institutionalize semen-biomedically, socially and culturally-provides valuable new perspectives on the changing social position of men and the evolving meanings of masculinity. Ultimately, as Moore reveals, sperm is intimately involved in not only the physical reproduction of males and females, but in how we come to understand ourselves as men and women.

In this headline-making book, Daniel Bergner turns everything we thought we knew about women's desire on its head. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with renowned behavioural scientists, sexologists, psychologists and everyday women, Daniel Bergner asks: - Do women really crave intimacy and emotional connection? - Are women more disposed to sex with strangers or multiple partners than either science or society have ever let on? - And is 'the fairer sex' actually more sexually aggressive and anarchic than men?

'One of the great social historians of our time. No one else makes history this fun' Amanda Foreman 'How Was It For You? subtly but powerfully subverts complacent male assumptions about a legendary decade' David Kynaston -------------------------------- "A feeling that we could do whatever we liked swept through us in the 60s . . ." The sixties: a decade of space travel, utopian dreams and - above all - sexual revolution. It liberated a generation. But mostly men. Meet dollybird Mavis, debutante Kristina, bunny girl Patsy, industrial campaigner Mary and countercultural Caroline. From Carnaby Street to Merseyside, white gloves to Black is Beautiful, their stories illustrate a turbulent power struggle, throwing an unsparing spotlight on morals, drugs, race, bomb culture and sex. This is a moving, shocking book about tearing up the world and starting again. It's about peace, love and psychedelia, but also misogyny, violation and discrimination, in a decade discovering a new cause: equality. And women would never be the same again. -------------------------------- 'Sparkling . . . there is a wonderfully diverse range of voices . . . we have a long way to go, but reading this book made me grateful for how far we have come' Daisy Goodwin, The Sunday Times 'An absorbing study of an extraordinary age. Beautifully written and intensively researched' Selina Hastings