SEXOLOGY

'Sexology' is the systematic study of human sexuality. It encompasses all aspects of sexuality, including attempting to characterise "normal sexuality" and its variants, including paraphilias.
Modern sexology is a multidisciplinary field which uses the techniques of fields including biology, medicine, psychology, statistics, epidemiology, pedagogics, sociology, anthropology, and sometimes criminology to bear on its subject. It studies human sexual development and the development of sexual relationships as well as the mechanics of sexual intercourse and sexual malfunction. It also documents the sexuality of special groups, such as handicapped, children, and elderly, and studies sexual pathologies such as sex addiction and child sexual abuse.
Note that sexology is considered descriptive, not prescriptive: it attempts to document reality, not to prescribe what behavior is suitable, ethical, or moral. Sexology has often been the subject of controversy between supporters of sexology, those who believe that sexology pries into matters held sacrosanct, and those who philosophically object to its claims of objectivity and empiricism.

Contents
History
Scope of sexology
Notable sexologists
Journals
References
See also
External links (alphabetically)

History


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''. However, none of these treated sex as the subject of a formal field of scientific or medical research.
One of the earliest sex researchers prior to the 20th century sexology movement was Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing, whose book ''Psychopathia Sexualis'', published in 1886, recorded a dizzying array of sexual anomalies.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sigmund Freud developed a theory of sexuality based on his studies of his clients. Wilhelm Reich and Otto Gross, were disciples of Freud, but rejected by him because of their emphasis of the role of sexuality for the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.
Magnus Hirschfeld founded the ''Institut für Sexualwissenschaft'' (Institute for Sexology) in Berlin in 1919. When the Nazis took power, one of their first actions, on May 6, 1933, was to destroy the Institute and burn the library.
In 1947, Alfred Kinsey founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University at Bloomington, now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction.
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.
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.
The late Vern Bullough was a historian of sexology, as well as a researcher in the field. A list of his books is provided. [1]

Scope of sexology


Sexology, as currently defined, is largely a 20th and 21st century phenomenon.
Sexology relates to a number of other fields of study:

★ several fields of medicine, including andrology, gynaecology, and the anatomy of the sex organs

★ the psychology, sociology, and anthropology of sexual behavior

neuroscience can be used to study many basic sexual reflexes, and is increasingly relevant to more complex aspects of sexual behavior

psychiatry studies disorders of sexual behavior when they impact on clinical conditions or reach a point where they become dysfunctional or sources of psychological difficulty.

★ many aspects of sexual behavior are or have been regulated by law in various jurisdictions, and various classes of sexual offences are studied by criminology

biology (general) and ethology (behavioral) study the sexual behavior of other animals, which can be compared with human sexual behavior

★ the techniques of evolutionary biology can be brought to bear on the causes of sexual behavior

★ the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases
Sexology also touches on public issues such as the debates over abortion, public health, birth control, sexual abuse and reproductive technology.

Notable sexologists


''See also: ''
This is a list of notable sexologists, sorted by the year of their birth:

Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902)

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)

Wilhelm Fliess (1858-1928)

Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)

Albert Moll (1862-1939)

Edward Westermarck (1862-1939)

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935)

Iwan Bloch (1872-1922)

Theodor Hendrik van de Velde (1873-1937)

Max Marcuse[1] (1877-1963)

Otto Gross (1877-1920)

Ernst Gräfenberg (1881-1957)

Harry Benjamin (1885-1986)

Theodor Reik (1888-1969)

Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956)

Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957)

Wardell Pomeroy (1913-2001)

Albert Ellis (born 1913)

Kurt Freund (1914-1996)

Ernest Borneman (1915-1995)

William Masters (1915-2001) and Virginia Johnson (born 1925) - see Masters and Johnson

Paul H. Gebhard (born 1917)

John Money (1921-2006)

Preben Hertoft (born 1928)

Oswalt Kolle (born 1928)

Vern Bullough[2] (1928-2006)

Betty Dodson[3] (born 1929)

★ William Simon[4] (1930-2000)

John Gagnon[4] (born 1931)

Fritz Klein (1932–2006)

Milton Diamond (born 1934)

Erwin J. Haeberle (born 1936)

Rolf Gindorf (born 1939)

Simon LeVay (born 1943)

Volkmar Sigusch (born 1943)

Shere Hite (born 1943)

Anne Fausto-Sterling (born 1944)

Sue Johanson (born 1946)

Gilbert Herdt (born 1949)

Joe Beam (born 1949)

Victoria Zdrok (born 1973)

Journals



★ ''Journal of Sex Research'' and ''Annual Review of Sex Research'', published by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

★ ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'', published by the International Academy of Sex Research

References


1. http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/COLLMM1.HTM
2. http://www.vernbullough.com/bullough/index.html
3. http://www.bettydodson.com/
4. http://sexualities.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/1/113
5. http://sexualities.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/1/113

See also



List of sexology topics

Gender and sexuality studies

Philosophy of sex

Sex education

Viridian Method

External links (alphabetically)



American Academy Of Clinical Sexologists

American Association Of Sex Educators, Counselors, & Therapists

Barry Yeoman, Forbidden Science, ''Discover'' magazine

Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality

Flemish Society of Sexology Belgium

German Society for Social-Scientific Sexuality Research (DGSS)

Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, in San Francisco

Institute of Family and Sexuality Studies (KULeuven) Belgium

Kinsey Institute

Klein Sexual Orientation Grid

Magnus Hirschfeld Archive of Sexology at the Humboldt University of Berlin with free access to:


Critical Dictionary of Sexology


Five online courses in Sexual Health


History of Sexology


Human Sexuality: An Encyclopedia


Sexology World-wide, listing of world-wide sexology institutions

Sexology Professor: Sexological Terms and Sexologists

Sexology SA


Academy for Sexology SA

Sexology Studies World Wide (edu.humsex.org)

Sexual and Affectional Orientation and Identity Scales by Bobbi Keppel & Alan Hamilton for the Bisexual Resource Center

Society for Human Sexuality


History of Sexology

World Sex Records (Section on Sexology)

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