’he human sexuality course is one of my favorite courses to teach, and I look forward to it each semester. I believe that students and teachers have a unique relationship, learning and teaching as a team. My approach to teaching is similar to a line in a Phil Collins song that says “in learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” While it’s true that students have so much to learn about sexuality, they also are wonderful teachers. I learn a lot in class just by listening to my students open up and share their own attitudes and thoughts about issues related to sexuality. It is through these conversations with students that I learn what students really want to know about sexuality and what things cause problems in their relationships. All that I have learned throughout my many years of teaching I bring to you in the Second Edition of Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity.
For me, the decision to write this book was an easy one. After teaching this course for more than 16 years, I was aware that a student-centered approach and students’ voices were missing from the majority of sexuality textbooks on the market. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of good books out there, but I think some authors wrote what they thought the students needed to know, without asking the students what gaps they felt needed to be filled. Of course, I too have many ideas about what I think students should know, but I also spend a great deal of my time listening and talking to students about sexuality issues. Students are really the foundation of Sexuality Now, and I keep this student-centered approach throughout the text.
The Second Edition of this book builds upon the successes of the First Edition and maintains many of the original features. Large-scale changes include a new art and photo program, an increased multi-cultural focus, and completely updated research with hundreds of new research citations. You will find updated material on issues such as same-sex marriages, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, pornography, love, pheromones, and brain chemistry. The field of sexuality has been changing rapidly during the last decade, and I have worked hard in this revision to keep up with these many changes.