Synopses & Reviews
Attempting to bridge the epistemological gaps between "positivist" and "postmodern" approaches to theoretical models of sexual behavior, this book brings together essays and discussion by scholars representing a range of viewpoints and contrasting theoretical approaches. The essays examine four areas: sexuality through the life cycle, sexual orientation, individual differences in sexual risk taking, and adolescent sexual behavior.
About the Author
John Bancroft, M.D., was trained in medicine at Cambridge University and in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. He has been Director of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, and Professor of Psychiatry at Indiana University since May 1995. For the previous 19 years he was Clinical Scientist at the Medical Research Council's Reproductive Biology Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has extensive research and clinical experience in the relationship of reproductive hormones to sexuality and well-being, psychophysiology and pharmacology of sexual response, and the management of sexual problems. He is author of Human Sexuality and Its Problems (2nd edition, 1989), was founding editor of Annual Review of Sex Research, and a past president of the International Academy of Sex Research.
Table of Contents
Introduction
John Bancroft
Session 1 - Sexuality Across The Life Cycle
Chair: Shirley Lindenbaum
Presenters:
Anke Ehrhardt
Gender, Sexuality and the Life Course
Anthony Walsh
Human Reproductive Strategies and Life History Theory
Discussants:
Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Leonore Tiefer
General Discussion.
Session 2- Sexual Orientation
Chair: Kenneth Plummer
Presenters:
Daryl Bem
The Exotic-becomes-erotic Theory of Sexual Orientation
Gilbert Herdt
Why Do the Sambia Intitiate Boys Before Age 10?
Discussants:
Heino F. L. Meyer-bahlburg
Gary Dowsett
General Discussion.
Session 3 - Individual Differences in Sexual Risk Taking
Chair: Edward O. Laumann
Presenters:
John Gagnon
Reflections on Risk and Sex
John Bancroft
Individual Differences in Sexual Risk Taking: a Psycho-socio-biological Theoretical Approach
Discussants:
Jay Philip Paul
Meg Gerrard
General Discussion.
Session 4 - Adolescent Sexuality
Chair: Diane Di Mauro
Presenters:
Constance Nathanson
The Impregnable Myth of Teenage Pregnancy: a Case Study of the Gap Between Science and Public Policy
Joseph Lee Rodgers
Social Contagion and Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Theoretical and Policy Implications
Discussants:
Caroline Bledsoe
J. Dennis Fortenberry
Claire D. Brindis
Session 5 - Policy And Culture
Richard Parker
Sexuality and Culture
Robert T. Michael
Comments on Policy Issues
Conclusion
John Bancroft
Contributors
Index