With reader-friendly guidance, UNDERSTANDING SEXUALITY RESEARCH uses realistic, hypothetical cases to promote students' critical thinking. The first five chapters present salient issues to consider when evaluating research on human sexuality. The next ten application chapters correspond well with the primary chapters presented in most sexuality texts, making it easy for instructors to integrate the book into the course throughout the semester. Students learn to effectively apply critical thinking skills to human sexuality research and become more critical judges of research conducted by others.

Today’s youth struggle with difficult questions of sexual identity. How can a youth worker offer wise care and counsel on such a controversial and confusing subject? Mark Yarhouse, Director of the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity, writes to equip youth ministers so they can faithfully navigate the topic of sexual identity in a way that is honest, compassionate, and accessible. Reframing the focus away from the culture wars, Yarhouse introduces readers to the conversation beginning with the developmental considerations in the formation of sexual identity—all of which occurs in the teen years. He offers practical and helpful ways to think about people who experience same-sex attraction. Sections of the book are also dedicated to helping parents respond to their children and teens who struggle with questions of sexual idenity, as well as how youth ministry can become more relevant in the lives of youth who are navigating these issues.

Is love “blind” when it comes to gender? For women, it just might be. This unsettling and original book offers a radical new understanding of the context-dependent nature of female sexuality. Lisa M. Diamond argues that for some women, love and desire are not rigidly heterosexual or homosexual but fluid, changing as women move through the stages of life, various social groups, and, most important, different love relationships.This perspective clashes with traditional views of sexual orientation as a stable and fixed trait. But that view is based on research conducted almost entirely on men. Diamond is the first to study a large group of women over time. She has tracked one hundred women for more than ten years as they have emerged from adolescence into adulthood. She summarizes their experiences and reviews research ranging from the psychology of love to the biology of sex differences. Sexual Fluidity offers moving first-person accounts of women falling in and out of love with men or women at different times in their lives. For some, gender becomes irrelevant: “I fall in love with the person, not the gender,” say some respondents.Sexual Fluidity offers a new understanding of women’s sexuality—and of the central importance of love.

In this compilation, the authors include a brief discussion of the myths, taboos, tendencies and new human relations that are related to the sexual behavior of elders, since sexual activities are a determinant factor when it comes to one's satisfaction in life. Additionally, they discuss the physiological changes that are inherent to aging, such as menopause, andropause, and consequently, the medications and hormonal replacement therapies which have been allowing seniors over 60 years of age to prolong their sexual life. This book includes an examination of how sexual minority youth are treated within ministry settings, church atmosphere around LGBT concerns, and factors that impact this atmosphere. Next, the impact of chronic pain on sexual functioning and the psychosocial, pharmacological, and biological variables that determine disability during sexual activity are discussed. The authors examine the effects of chronic pain comorbid conditions on sexual functioning and how pharmacological treatment of pain and its comorbid disorders can impede sexual functioning. Issues concerning the relations between sexuality, gender and diversity in schools are studied in an effort to promote a democratic culture in schools that properly values diversity, seeing it as a way to develop a sense of community, not as a problem to be solved. The authors share the belief that schools should develop pedagogical strategies adopting, as guiding principle, the promotion of attitudes characterized by the autonomy, responsibility and pleasure in relation to ones own body and sexuality. Later, the educational institution climate is explored, as well as interest, knowledge, and experiences of youth ministry educators in relation to sexual minority youth and sexual identity issues. 54 youth ministry educators completed an online questionnaire that inquired about their perception of the educational institution climate as well as their personal interest, knowledge, and experience with sexual minority youth. Lastly, a paper is presented investigating why the phenomenon of same sex relationships such a difficult concept to understand in African settings and public sentiments towards LGBT individuals among the Shona immigrants in South Africa. The goal of the study was to establish attitudes and level awareness and tolerance of the public towards LGBT individuals. The authors maintain that tolerance and awareness could be improved through neutral discourses and advocacy activities on internet, social media and public forums by significant members of society.

Understanding Sexual Violence examines the structural supports for rape in sexually violent cultures and dispels a number of myths about sexual violence--for example, that childhood abuse, alcohol, and drugs are direct causes of rape.