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Sexology

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Sign advertising the services of a sexolgist in the Old city of Delhi

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 consensus belief.

History

While there are works dedicated towards sex in antiquity, the scientific study of sexual behaviors began in the 19th century. Shifts in national borders at that time brought into conflict laws that were sexually liberal and laws that criminalized behaviors such as homosexuality activity. German society, under the sexually liberal Napoleonic code, organized and successfully resisted the anti-sexual cultural influences. The momentum from those groups led them to coordinate sex research across traditional academic disciplines, bringing Germany to the leadership of sexology. Germany's dominance in sexual behavior research ended with the Nazi regime, marked by the destruction of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexology) in Berlin.[1]

Ancient

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. None of these treat sex as the subject of a formal field of scientific or medical research, however.

Pre World-War II

One historian attributed the first work of modern sex research to Alexander Jean Baptiste Parent-Duchatelet; in his 1837 study, De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris (Prostituion in the City of Paris), Parent-Duchatelet collected data from a sample of 3,558 registered prostitutes of Paris.[1]

The first scholarly journal of the field, Journal of Sexology (Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft), began publication in 1908 and was published monthly for one year. Those issues contained articles by Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and Wilhelm Stekel.[2] The first academic association was the Society for Sexology, founded in 1913.[3]

Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing is one of the earliest sex researchers prior to the 20th century sexology movement. His book Psychopathia Sexualis, published in 1886, is the earliest extensive compilation of case studies of sexual anomalies.

Henry Havelock Ellis, a British sexologist, co-authored the first English medical text book on homosexuality. A friend of Edward Carpenter, he was one of the first sexologists who did not regard homosexuality as a disease, immoral, or a crime. He prefered the term inversion to homosexuality, and developed concepts such as autoerotism and narcissism, which were later adopted by Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud developed a theory of sexuality[4] based on his studies of his clients, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wilhelm Reich and Otto Gross, were disciples of Freud, but rejected by his theories because of their emphasis on the role of sexuality in the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.

Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sexology) in Berlin in 1919. He developed a system which identified 64 actual or hypothetical types of sexual intermediary, and is credited with identifying a group of people that today are referred to as transsexual or transgender as separate from the categories of homosexuality, he referred to these people as 'transvestites'. When the Nazis took power, one of their first actions, on May 8, 1933, was to destroy the Institute and burn the library.

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.

Post World-War II

Alfred Kinsey founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University at Bloomington in 1947. This is now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. He wrote in his 1948 book that more was scientifically known about the sexual behavior of farm animals than of humans.[5]

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.

Kurt Freund developed the Penile plethysmograph in Czechoslovakia in the 1950's. The device was designed to provide an objective measurement of sexual arousal in males and Freund used it to help dispel a number of myths surrounding homosexuality. This tool has since been used with sex offenders.[6] [7]

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.

Vern Bullough was the most prominent historian of sexology during this era, as well as being a researcher in the field.[8]

21st Century

Technological advances have permitted sexological questions to be addressed with studies using behavioral genetics,[9] neuroimaging,[10] and large-scale Internet-based surveys.[11]

Interdisciplinary relations and limits

Sexology relates to a number of other fields of study:

Sexology also touches on public issues such as the debates over abortion, public health, birth control, sexual abuse and reproductive technology.

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: Template:MultiCol

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Scholarly journals

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See also

References

  1. ^ a b Bullough, V. L. (1989). The society for the scientific study of sex: A brief history. Mt. Vernon, IA: The Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
  2. ^ Haeberle, E. J. (1983). The birth of sexology: A brief history in documents. World Association for Sexology.
  3. ^ Kewenig, W. A. (1983, May 22-27). Forward. In E. J. Haeberle, The birth of sexology: A brief history in documents (p. 3). World Association for Sexology.
  4. ^ Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex by Sigmund Freud - Project Gutenberg
  5. ^ p. 3 of Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., & Martin, C. E. (1948). Sexual behavior of the human male. New York and Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders.
  6. ^ Associated Press (October 26, 1996). Kurt Freund, 82, notable sexologist.
  7. ^ Kuban, Michael (Summer 2004). Sexual Science Mentor: Dr. Kurt Freund. Sexual Science 45.2
  8. ^ Dr. Vern L Bullough - Publications - Vern Bullough
  9. ^ Mustanski, B.S., Dupree, M. G., Nievergelt, C., Schork, N. J., & Hamer, D. H. (2005). A genomewide linkage scan of male sexual orientation. Human Genetics, 116, 272-278.
  10. ^ Ferretti, A., et al. (2005). Dynamics of male sexual arousal: Distinct components of brain activation revealed by fMRI. NeuroImage, 26, 1086-1096.
  11. ^ Lippa, R. (2007). Guest Editor's introduction to the BBC special section. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36, 145-145.
  12. ^ [Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge. London: Penguin (1976/1998)]
  13. ^ Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
  14. ^ Malinowski as "Reluctant Sexologist in Irregular connections, by Andrew Lyons p.155-184 (2004)
  15. ^ The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia Bronislaw Malinowski (1929) (Wikipedia entry on The Sexual Life of Savages in North-Western Melanesia)
  16. ^ McMurry University, Texas Retrieved on July 02, 2009.
  17. ^ "Dr. Vern L Bullough Distinguished Professor Natural and Social Sciences" Retrieved on November 23, 2007.
  18. ^ a b SAGE Journals Online - Sexualities. Retrieved on July 02, 2009.
  19. ^ Marriage Science.com Retrieved on July 02, 2009.
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