This three-volume overview and summary of research data on a wide variety of sexual topics attempts to review what is known about human sexuality and how we know it.

Providing a comprehensive framework for the broad subject of human sexuality, this two-volume set offers a context of historical development, scientific discovery, and sociopolitical and sociocultural movements. The broad topic of sex—encompassing subjects as varied as sexuality, sexual and gender identity, abortion, and such crimes as sexual assault—is one of the most controversial in American society today. This two-volume encyclopedic set provides readers with more than 450 entries on the subject, offering a comprehensive overview of major sexuality issues in American and global culture. Themes that run throughout the volumes include sexual health and reproduction, sexual identity and orientation, sexual behaviors and expression, the history of sex and sexology, and sex and society. Entries cover a breadth of subjects, such as the major contributors to the field of sexology; the biological, psychological, and cultural dimensions of sex and sexuality; and how the modern-day political climate and the government play a major role in determining attitudes and beliefs about sex. Written in clear, jargon-free language, this set is ideal for students as well as general readers.

Rev. ed. of: The gender of sexuality / Pepper Schwartz, Virginia Rutter. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, c1998.

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.

For some time sex has been defined as the biological difference between men and women, and gender as the manner in which culture defines and constrains these differences. Feminine/masculine, male/female, women/men, boy/girl - terms of sexual and gender division like these permeate the way we think and talk about ourselves and each other. On most occasions we find their use non-problematic and people employ them easily, at other times, however, particularly if we are interested in psychology, we may wonder whether this ease is illusory.; One may speculate whether being a woman necessarily implies being "feminine". One may question why young women are often referred to as girls, while men are seldom referred to as boys. Is dressing in a stereotypically feminine manner a reliable indication that a woman is heterosexual? What about cross dressing? Why do these topics hold so much fascination for the media?; "Gender, Sex and Sexuality" examines the effects that the inequalities experienced between men and women have had on the psychologies of both sexes, and the battle to remove them. It aims to introduce the reader to current research and theories, drawing on novels, theatre, soap operas, as well as research for case histories.

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.

This new introduction to the sociology of gender and sexuality provides fresh insight into our rapidly changing attitudes towards sex and our understanding of masculine and feminine identities, relating the study of gender and sexuality to recent research and theory, and wider social concerns throughout the world.