Sexual Attitudes: Myths & Realities - Hardcover

Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0879759496 ISBN 13: 9780879759490

Publisher: Prometheus Books, 1995

Synopsis

In Sexual Attitudes: Myths and Realities, internationally acclaimed sexologists Vern L. Bullough and Bonnie Bullough take readers on a guided tour through the many assumptions and misconceptions we harbor about our own sexuality, as they bring us up to date on a variety of sexual and related issues. How did masturbation evolve from being regarded as a cause of insanity to being a normal part of sexual development? When did the medical profession stop viewing homosexuality as a sin or sickness, and accept it as a valid form of sexual expression? How did abortion move from being an illegal act, performed in secrecy under dangerous conditions, to a constitutionally protected right? The authors highlight the ways in which social, moral, and religious attitudes have dramatically changed from being founded on myths to relying on more science-based realities.
The Bulloughs argue that accepting new knowledge need not undermine morality even though it challenges entrenched, often unfounded, assumptions about our sexual behavior. They contend that our traditional attitudes about sex must be continuously rethought and updated rather than shrouded in mystery and myth. Moral values can still be maintained even while acknowledging the existence of vastly more accurate information about the physiology of sex and the many ways in which we choose to express our sexuality.

About this title

About the Author

Bonnie Bullough is a professor in the school of nursing at the University of Southern California and is dean emeritus of the nursing school of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

From Library Journal

Sex is a topic American adults assume they know everything about. To explain the genesis of the myths and realities of modern sexual customs and ethics, two internationally known University of California sexologists (coeditors of Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia, Garland, 1994, and many other titles) turn their attention to the historical and cultural backgrounds-from the ancient Greeks and Romans through early and medieval Christian, Islamic, Chinese, and Indian cultural strains. Topics of discussion include prostitutes, pornography, obscenity, masturbation, transexualism, transvestitism, menstruation, abortion, sex labeling, nudity, and more. The discussion of each topic is presented in as unbiased a fashion as possible, although an unintentional Western skew is evident. Based as much in sociology as psychology, each thoroughly researched chapter ends with a three- to four-page bibliography of resources consulted. Larger public libraries may want this book, which is accessible to the informed public library patron; academic libraries should also purchase.
Scott Johnson, Meridian Community Coll. Lib., Miss.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0879759496
• ISBN 13: 9780879759490
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 281