Sexology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sexology is the study of sexual interests, behavior, and function. In modern sexology, researchers apply tools from several academic fields, including biology, medicine, psychology, statistics, epidemiology, pedagogics, sociology, anthropology, and criminology. It studies sexual development and the development of sexual relationships as well as the mechanics of sexual intercourse and sexual malfunction. It also documents the sexualities of special groups, such as handicapped, children, and elderly, and studies sexual pathologies such as sex addiction and child sexual abuse. Sexology is often been the subject of controversy when its research findings contradict the philosophical or sacred beliefs of others.
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[edit] History
A number of ancient sex manuals exist, including Ovid's Ars Amatoria, the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, the Ananga Ranga and The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation. However, none of these treat sex as the subject of a formal field of scientific or medical research.
One of the earliest sex researchers prior to the 20th century sexology movement was Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, whose book Psychopathia Sexualis, published in 1886, recorded a dizzying array of sexual anomalies.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sigmund Freud developed a theory of sexuality[1] based on his studies of his clients. Wilhelm Reich and Otto Gross, were disciples of Freud, but rejected by him because of their emphasis of the role of sexuality for the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.
In 1929, Katharine Bement Davis published her study, Factors in the Sex Life of Twenty-Two Hundred Women. This study explored formally educated women's practices of sex in and out of marriage, masturbation and contraceptives. Opinions were also documented on abortion, homosexuality, masturbation, prostitution and contraceptives. Dr. Davis is rarely acknowledged for her contribution as the first woman who analyzed the sex lives of other women.
Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexology) in Berlin in 1919. When the Nazis took power, one of their first actions, on May 8, 1933, was to destroy the Institute and burn the library.
In 1947, Alfred Kinsey founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University at Bloomington, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.
Masters and Johnson released their works Human Sexual Response in 1966 and Human Sexual Inadequacy in 1970. Their books sold well, and they were founders of what became to be known as the Masters & Johnson Institute in 1978.
Fritz Klein developed the Klein Sexual Orientation Grid a multi-dimensional system for describing complex sexual orientation, similar to the Kinsey scale, but measuring seven different vectors of sexual orientation and identity separately, and allowing for change over time. In 1978 Klein published The Bisexual Option, a groundbreaking psychological study of bisexuality and in 1998, he founded the American Institute of Bisexuality (AIB) to encourage, support and assist research and education about bisexuality.
The late Vern Bullough was a historian of sexology, as well as a researcher in the field.[2]
[edit] Interdisciplinary relations and limits
Sexology, as currently defined, is largely a 20th and 21st century phenomenon.
Sexology relates to a number of other fields of study:
- several fields of medicine, including andrology, gynaecology, and the anatomy of the sex organs
- the psychology, sociology, and anthropology of sexual behavior
- neuroscience can be used to study many basic sexual reflexes, and is increasingly relevant to studying more complex sexual preferences and behaviors
- psychiatry studies paraphilia, as well as disorders of sexual behavior when they impact on clinical conditions or reach a point where they become dysfunctional or sources of psychological difficulty.
- many aspects of sexual behavior are or have been regulated by law in various jurisdictions, and various classes of sexual offences are studied by criminology
- biology (general) and ethology (behavioral) study the sexual behavior of other animals, which can be compared with human sexual behavior
- the techniques of evolutionary biology can be brought to bear on the causes of sexual behavior
- the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases
Sexology also touches on public issues such as the debates over abortion, public health, birth control, sexual abuse and reproductive technology.
[edit] Notable contributors
See also: Category:Sexologists
This is a list of sexologists and notable contributors to the field of sexology, sorted by the year of their birth:
[edit] Scholarly journals
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[edit] References
- ^ Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex by Sigmund Freud - Project Gutenberg
- ^ Dr. Vern L Bullough - Publications - Vern Bullough
- ^ Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
- ^ "Dr. Vern L Bullough Distinguished Professor Natural and Social Sciences" Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
- ^ a b SAGE Journals Online - Sexualities. Retrieved on ??
- ^ Marriage Science.com Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
[edit] See also
- List of sexology topics
- List of sexology organizations
- Gender and sexuality studies
- Philosophy of sex
- Sex education
- Lesbian utopia
- Sexological testing
- Erogenous zone
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