In the discussion of the Islamic Middle East and China, we saw that sexual pleasure for both men and women was more highly valued in earlier times than in the contem­porary era. In the Western world the opposite is generally true, due to cultural changes regarding the purpose of sexual behavior and societal expectations for […]

China’s ancient history is rich in erotic literature and art. Indeed, the earliest known sex manuals, produced in China sometime around 2500 BCE, portrayed sexual techniques and a great variety of intercourse positions. In ancient China, Taoism (dating from around the second century BCE) actively promoted sexual activity—oral sex, sensual touching, and intercourse—for spiritual growth […]

Islam is the worlds fastest-growing religion, and its followers are called Muslims. Islam predominates in the Middle East, yet it is pres­ent in many other parts of the world: One fifth of the worlds popu­lation is Muslim, and about 2.6 million Muslims live in the United States (Hodge & Nadir, 2008; Pew Forum on Religion […]

Our Sexuality explores the sexual attitudes and behaviors of people in many places around the globe, including the United States. Individuals of many ethnic and religious groups have made their homes in the United States, resulting in a wide range of sexual values and behaviors here. An ethnic group typically shares a common historical ancestry, […]

Few topics generate as much attention and evoke as much pleasure and distress as the expression and control of human sexuality. In a sexuality class, students represent a diversity of ages, ethnic and religious backgrounds, life experiences, and liberal and conservative attitudes. Students’ sexual experiences vary; most students who have had sexual experiences relate sexually […]

To assist you on your journey to greater sexual intelligence, this book takes a psy­chosocial approach, reflecting our view that psychological factors (emotions, attitudes, motivations) and social conditioning (the process by which we learn our social groups’ expectations and norms) have a crucial impact on sexual attitudes, values, and behav­iors. Our Sexuality also covers the […]

Throughout this textbook we discuss sexual attitudes, ide­als, and behaviors of the past and present. We highlight sim­ilarities and differences in the Western world and beyond and emphasize the controversies inherent in sexual issues. Finding one’s way through the complex and conflicting perspectives related to human sexuality is both a personal and a societal challenge. […]

The integration of psychological, social, and biological components of human sexual­ity in this text is facilitated by the blending of the authors’ academic and professional backgrounds. ROBERT CROOKS has a Ph. D. in psychology. His graduate training stressed clinical and physiological psychology. In addition, he has considerable background in sociology, which served as his minor […]