human sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, including human sexual interests,
behavior
Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions and mannerisms made by individuals, organisms, systems or artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or organisms as wel ...
s, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as
social criticism
Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general.
Social criticism of the Enlightenment
The orig ...
.
Sexologists apply tools from several academic fields, such as
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
,
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
,
medicine
Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...
,
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
,
epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
,
sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
, and
criminology
Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
. Topics of study include
sexual development
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. In ...
(puberty),
sexual orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...
,
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
,
sexual relationship
An intimate relationship is an interpersonal relationship that involves Physical intimacy, physical or emotional intimacy. Although an intimate relationship is commonly a sexual relationship, it may also be a non-sexual relationship involving ...
s, sexual activities,
paraphilia
Paraphilia (previously known as sexual perversion and sexual deviation) is the experience of intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as sexual interest in anything ot ...
s, and atypical sexual interests. It also includes the study of sexuality across the lifespan, including
child sexuality
Development of sexuality is an integral part of the development and maturation of children. It includes a range of sensory, emotional, and consequent sexual activities that may occur before or during early puberty, but before full sexual maturity i ...
,
puberty
Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a girl, the testes in a boy. ...
,
adolescent sexuality
Adolescent sexuality is a stage of human development in which adolescents experience and explore sexual feelings. Interest in sexuality intensifies during the onset of puberty, and sexuality is often a vital aspect of teenagers' lives. Sexual int ...
, and sexuality among the elderly. Sexology also spans sexuality among those with mental or physical disabilities. The sexological study of
sexual dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction as ...
s and disorders, including
erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction (ED), also called impotence, is the type of sexual dysfunction in which the penis fails to become or stay erect during sexual activity. It is the most common sexual problem in men.Cunningham GR, Rosen RC. Overview of male ...
and
anorgasmia
Anorgasmia is a type of sexual dysfunction in which a person cannot achieve orgasm despite adequate stimulation. Anorgasmia is far more common in females (4.6 percent) than in males and is especially rare in younger men. The problem is greater in ...
, are also mainstays.
History
Early
Sex manual
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
s have existed since antiquity, such as
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''
Ars Amatoria
The ''Ars amatoria'' ( en, The Art of Love) is an instructional elegy series in three books by the ancient Roman poet Ovid. It was written in 2 AD.
Background
Book one of ''Ars amatoria'' was written to show a man how to find a woman. In book two ...
'', the ''
Kama Sutra
The ''Kama Sutra'' (; sa, कामसूत्र, , ; ) is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text on sexuality, eroticism and emotional fulfillment in life. Attributed to Vātsyāyana, the ''Kama Sutra'' is neither exclusively nor predominantly ...
Ananga Ranga
The ''Ananga Ranga'' ( hi, अनंगरंग, lit=Stage of Love) or ''Kamaledhiplava'' ( hi, link=no, कमलेधिप्लव, lit=Boat in the Sea of Love) is an Indian sex manual written by Kalyana malla in the 15th or 16th century. T ...
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, written by Alexander Jean Baptiste Parent-Duchatelet (published in 1837, a year after he died), has been called the first work of modern sex research.Bullough, V. L. (1989). ''The society for the scientific study of sex: A brief history''. Mt. Vernon, Iowa: The Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.
The scientific study of sexual behavior in human beings began in the 19th century with
Heinrich Kaan
Heinrich Kaan (russian: link=no, Генрих Каан; 8 February 1816 – 24 May 1893) was a 19th-century physician known for his seminal contributions to early sexology. Different sources identify him as Ruthenians, Ruthenian (an ethnic group l ...
, whose book ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1844)
Michel Foucault
Paul-Michel Foucault (, ; ; 15 October 192625 June 1984) was a French philosopher, historian of ideas, writer, political activist, and literary critic. Foucault's theories primarily address the relationship between power and knowledge, and how ...
describes as marking "the date of birth, or in any case the date of the emergence of sexuality and sexual aberrations in the psychiatric field." The term ''sexology'' was coined for the first time in the United States by Elizabeth Osgood Goodrich Willard in 1867. Roughly simultaneously a group of homophile activists, not yet identifying themselves as sexologists, were responding to shifts in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
's national borders, a crisis that brought into conflict laws that were sexually liberal and laws that criminalized behaviors such as homosexual activity.
Victorian era to WWII
Despite the prevailing social attitude of sexual repression in
the Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...
, the movement towards sexual emancipation began towards the end of the nineteenth century in England and Germany. In 1886,
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work ''Psychopathi ...
published ''
Psychopathia Sexualis
''Psychopathia Sexualis: eine Klinisch-Forensische Studie'' (''Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical-Forensic Study'', also known as ''Psychopathia Sexualis, with Especial Reference to the Antipathetic Sexual Instinct: A Medico-forensic Study'') is an ...
.'' That work is considered as having established sexology as a scientific discipline.Hoenig, J. (1977). Dramatis personae: Selected biographical sketches of 19th century pioneers in sexology. In J. Money and H. Musaph (Eds.), ''Handbook of Sexology,'' (pp. 21-43). Elsevier/North-Holland Biomedical Press.
In England, the founding father of sexology was the doctor and sexologist
Havelock Ellis
Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in ...
who challenged the
sexual taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s of his era regarding
masturbation
Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinatio ...
and
homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
and revolutionized the conception of sex in his time. His seminal work was the 1897 ''Sexual Inversion'', which describes the sexual relations of homosexual males, including men with boys. Ellis wrote the first objective study of homosexuality (the term was coined by
Karl-Maria Kertbeny
Károly Mária Kertbeny (or Karl Maria Benkert) (28 February 1824 – 23 January 1882) was a Hungarian journalist, translator, memoirist and human rights campaigner. He is best known for coining the words ''heterosexual'' and ''homosexual'' as ...
), as he did not characterize it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age
taboo
A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
s as well as gender taboos. Seven of his twenty-one case studies are of inter-generational relationships. He also developed other important psychological concepts, such as
autoerotism
Autoeroticism or autosexuality is a practice of sexually stimulating oneself, especially one's own body through accumulation of internal stimuli.
The term was popularized toward the end of the 19th century by British sexologist Havelock Elli ...
and
narcissism
Narcissism is a self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one's physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one's own needs, often at the expense of others.
Narcissism exists on a co ...
, both of which were later developed further by
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
.
Ellis pioneered
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
phenomena alongside the German
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
. He established it as new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality.Ekins, Richard and King, Dave (2006) ''The transgender phenomenon'', SAGE, , pp. 61-64 Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of
transvestism
Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...
, but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term ''sexo-aesthetic inversion'' to describe the phenomenon.
In 1908, the first scholarly journal of the field, ''Journal of Sexology'' (''Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft''), began publication and was published monthly for one year. Those issues contained articles by Freud,
Alfred Adler
Alfred Adler ( , ; 7 February 1870 – 28 May 1937) was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, family constellation and birth order ...
, and
Wilhelm Stekel
Wilhelm Stekel (; 18 March 1868 – 25 June 1940) was an Austrian physician and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil". According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel ...
.Haeberle, E. J. (1983). ''The birth of sexology: A brief history in documents.'' World Association for Sexology. In 1913, the first academic association was founded: the ''Society for Sexology''.
Freud developed a theory of sexuality. These stages of development include:
Oral
The word oral may refer to:
Relating to the mouth
* Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid
**Oral administration of medicines
** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or oral ...
,
Anal
Anal may refer to:
Related to the anus
*Related to the anus of animals:
** Anal fin, in fish anatomy
** Anal vein, in insect anatomy
** Anal scale, in reptile anatomy
*Related to the human anus:
** Anal sex, a type of sexual activity involvin ...
,
Phallic
A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.
Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely ...
Genital
A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...
. These stages run from infancy to puberty and onwards. based on his studies of his clients, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...
and
Otto Gross
Otto Hans Adolf Gross (17 March 1877 – 13 February 1920) was an Austrian psychoanalyst. A maverick early disciple of Sigmund Freud, he later became an anarchist and joined the utopian Ascona community.
His father Hans Gross was a judge turned ...
were disciples of Freud, but rejected his theories because of their emphasis on the role of sexuality in the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.
Pre-Nazi Germany, under the sexually liberal Napoleonic code, organized and resisted the anti-sexual, Victorian cultural influences. The momentum from those groups led them to coordinate sex research across traditional
academic discipline
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
s, bringing Germany to the leadership of sexology. Physician
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, founding the
Scientific Humanitarian Committee
The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (, WhK) was founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and against their legal persecution. It was the first LGBT ...
, the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights.
Hirschfeld also set up the first
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
The was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as ''Institute of Sex Research'', ''Institute of Sexology'', ''Institute for Sexology'' or ''Institute for the Science of Sexual ...
(Institute for Sexology) in Berlin in 1919. Its library housed over 20,000 volumes, 35,000 photographs, a large collection of art and other objects. People from around Europe visited the institute to gain a clearer understanding of their
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
and to be treated for their sexual concerns and dysfunctions.
Hirschfeld developed a system which identified numerous actual or hypothetical types of sexual intermediary between heterosexual male and female to represent the potential diversity of human sexuality, and is credited with identifying a group of people that today are referred to as
transsexual
Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (including sex reassignment ...
or
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
as separate from the categories of homosexuality, he referred to these people as ''transvestiten'' (transvestites). Germany's dominance in sexual behavior research ended with the
Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. The Institute and its library were destroyed by the Nazis less than three months after they took power, May 8, 1933. The institute was shut down and Hirschfeld's books were burned.
Other sexologists in the early
gay rights movement
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
included
Ernst Burchard
Ernst Burchard (9 September 1876 – 5 February 1920) was a German physician, sexologist, and gay rights advocate and author. Burchard, who was gay, testified as an expert witness in several court cases involving prosecutions on grounds of Parag ...
and
Benedict Friedlaender
Benedict Friedlaender (8 July 1866 – 21 June 1908; first name occasionally spelled Benedikt) was a German Jewish sexologist, sociologist, economist, volcanologist, and physicist.
Friedlaender was born in Berlin as the son of Carl Friedlae ...
.
Ernst Gräfenberg
Ernst Gräfenberg (26 September 1881 – 28 October 1957) was a German-born physician and scientist. He is known for developing the intra-uterine device (IUD), and for his studies of the role of the woman's urethra in orgasm. The G-spot is name ...
, after whom the
G-spot
The G-spot, also called the Gräfenberg spot (for German gynecologist Ernst Gräfenberg), is characterized as an erogenous area of the vagina that, when stimulated, may lead to strong sexual arousal, powerful orgasms and potential female ejac ...
is named, published the initial research developing the
intrauterine device
An intrauterine device (IUD), also known as intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD or ICD) or coil, is a small, often T-shaped birth control device that is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. IUDs are one form of long-acting rever ...
(IUD).
Post WWII
After World War II, sexology experienced a renaissance, both in the United States and Europe. Large scale studies of sexual behavior, sexual function, and
sexual dysfunction
Sexual dysfunction is difficulty experienced by an individual or partners during any stage of normal sexual activity, including physical pleasure, desire, preference, arousal, or orgasm. The World Health Organization defines sexual dysfunction as ...
gave rise to the development of
sex therapy
Sex therapy is a strategy for the improvement of sexual function and treatment of sexual dysfunction. This includes sexual dysfunctions such as premature ejaculation or delayed ejaculation, erectile dysfunction, lack of sexual interest or arousal, ...
. Post-WWII sexology in the U.S. was influenced by the influx of European refugees escaping the Nazi regime and the popularity of the Kinsey studies. Until that time, American sexology consisted primarily of groups working to end
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
and to educate youth about
sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex ...
.
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Instit ...
founded the
Institute for Sex Research Institute for Sex Research may refer to:
* Kinsey Institute, an independent institution associated with Indiana University from 1947 to 2016
*Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
The was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from ...
at
Indiana University
Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana.
Campuses
Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI.
*Indiana Universit ...
Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction
The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction (often shortened to The Kinsey Institute) is a research institute at Indiana University. Established in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1947 as a nonprofit, the institute merged with Indi ...
. He wrote in his 1948 book that more was scientifically known about the sexual behavior of farm animals than of humans.
Psychologist and sexologist
John Money
John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and Sex determination and differentiation (human), biology of gender. He was one of the first ...
developed theories on sexual identity and
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
in the 1950s. His work, notably on the
David Reimer
David Reimer (born Bruce Peter Reimer; 22 August 1965 – 4 May 2004) was a Canadian man born male but raised as a girl following medical advice and intervention after his penis was severely injured during a botched circumcision in infancy. ...
case has since been regarded as controversial, even while the case was key to the development of treatment protocols for
intersex
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical bina ...
infants and children.
Kurt Freund
Kurt Freund (17 January 1914 – 23 October 1996) was a Czech-Canadian physician and sexologist best known for developing the penile plethysmograph (a measurement of sexual arousal in males), research studies in pedophilia, and for the "courtsh ...
developed the
penile plethysmograph
Penile plethysmography (PPG) or phallometry is measurement of blood flow to the penis, typically used as a proxy for measurement of sexual arousal. The most commonly reported methods of conducting penile plethysmography involve the measurement of ...
in the 1950s. The device was designed to provide an objective measurement of
sexual arousal
Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to sexual stimuli. A number of physiological responses occur in the body and mind as ...
in males and is currently used in the assessment of
pedophilia
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
and
hebephilia
Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in puberty, pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia (the primary or ...
. This tool has since been used with
sex offenders
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...
.
In 1966 and 1970,
Masters and Johnson
The Masters and Johnson research team, composed of William H. Masters and Virginia E. Johnson, pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual disorders and dysfunctions from 1957 until the 1 ...
released their works ''Human Sexual Response'' and ''Human Sexual Inadequacy,'' respectively. Those volumes sold well, and they were founders of what became known as the Masters & Johnson Institute in 1978.
Vern Bullough
Vern Leroy Bullough (July 24, 1928 – June 21, 2006) was an American historian and sexologist.
He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York ( SUNY) at Buffalo, Faculty President at California State University, No ...
was a historian of sexology during this era, as well as being a researcher in the field.
The emergence of
HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...
in the 1980s caused a dramatic shift in sexological research efforts towards understanding and controlling the spread of the disease.
21st century
Technological advances have permitted sexological questions to be addressed with studies using behavioral genetics, neuroimaging, and large-scale Internet-based surveys.
Sexology is a regulated profession in some jurisdictions. In Quebec, sexologists must be members of the Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec. They are one of the professions eligible to receive
psychotherapy
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...
permits from the Ordre des psychologues du Québec.
Notable contributors
This is a list of sexologists and notable contributors to the field of sexology, by year of birth:
*
Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal
Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal (23 March 1833, in Berlin – 27 January 1890, in Kreuzlingen) was a German psychiatrist from Berlin. He was the son of Otto Carl Friedrich Westphal (1800–1879) and Karoline Friederike Heine and the father of Alexan ...
(1833–1890)
*
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (full name Richard Fridolin Joseph Freiherr Krafft von Festenberg auf Frohnberg, genannt von Ebing; 14 August 1840 – 22 December 1902) was a German psychiatrist and author of the foundational work ''Psychopathi ...
(1840–1902)
*
Albert Eulenburg
Albert Eulenburg (10 August 1840 – 3 July 1917) was a German neurologist born in Berlin.
Education
Born into a Jewish family, he studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin, Bern and Zurich, earning his doctorate in 1861. Among his inst ...
(1840–1917)
*
Auguste Henri Forel
Auguste-Henri Forel (1 September 1848 – 27 July 1931) was a Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, psychiatrist and eugenicist, notable for his investigations into the structure of the human brain and that of ants. For example, he is considered a ...
(1848–1931)
*
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
(1856–1939)
*
Wilhelm Fliess
Wilhelm Fliess (german: Wilhelm Fließ; 24 October 1858 – 13 October 1928) was a German otolaryngologist who practised in Berlin. He developed the pseudoscientific Biorhythm theory, theory of human biorhythms and a possible nasogenital conne ...
(1858–1928)
*
Havelock Ellis
Henry Havelock Ellis (2 February 1859 – 8 July 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in ...
(1858–1939)
*
Eugen Steinach
Eugen Steinach (28 January 1861 – 14 May 1944) was an Austrian physiologist and pioneer in endocrinology. Steinach played a significant role in discovering the relationship between sex hormones (estrogen and testosterone) and human physical iden ...
(1861–1944)
*
Robert Latou Dickinson
Robert Latou Dickinson (1861–1950) was an American obstetrician and gynecologist, surgeon, maternal health educator, artist, sculptor and medical illustrator, and research scientist.
Early life
Robert Latou Dickinson was born on February 21, 1 ...
Edvard Westermarck
Edvard Alexander Westermarck (Helsinki, 20 November 1862 – Tenala, 3 September 1939) was a Finnish philosopher and sociologist. Among other subjects, he studied exogamy and the incest taboo.
Biography
Westermarck was born in 1862 in a ...
(1862–1939)
*
Clelia Duel Mosher
Clelia Duel Mosher (KLEEL-ya DUE-el MOE-sher; December 16, 1863 – December 21, 1940) was a physician, hygienist and women's health advocate who disapproved of Victorian stereotypes about the physical incapacities of women.Stanford School of M ...
(1863–1940)
*
Eugene Wilhelm
Eugene may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...
(aka Numa Praetorius) (1866–1951)
*
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
(1868–1935)
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Iwan Bloch
Iwan Bloch (April 8, 1872 – November 21, 1922), also known as Ivan Bloch, was a German dermatologist, and psychiatrist, psychoanalyst born in Delmenhorst, Grand Ducal Oldenburg, Germany, and often called the first sexologist.
Together with M ...
(1872–1922)
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Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde
Theodoor Hendrik van de Velde (12 February 1873, Leeuwarden – 27 April 1937 near Locarno in a plane crash) was a Dutch physician and gynæcologist who served as director at the Gynæcological Institute in Haarlem.
Biography
His 1926 book ...
(1873–1937)
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Max Marcuse Max Marcuse (April 14, 1877, BerlinJune 24, 1963, Tel Aviv) was a German dermatologist and sexologist. He became an editor for Magnus Hirschfeld’s '' Journal of Sexology'' in 1919 and continued editing the journal until 1932. Marcuse immigrated t ...
(1877–1963)
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Otto Gross
Otto Hans Adolf Gross (17 March 1877 – 13 February 1920) was an Austrian psychoanalyst. A maverick early disciple of Sigmund Freud, he later became an anarchist and joined the utopian Ascona community.
His father Hans Gross was a judge turned ...
(1877–1920)
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Ernst Gräfenberg
Ernst Gräfenberg (26 September 1881 – 28 October 1957) was a German-born physician and scientist. He is known for developing the intra-uterine device (IUD), and for his studies of the role of the woman's urethra in orgasm. The G-spot is name ...
(1881–1957)
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Bronisław Malinowski
Bronisław Kasper Malinowski (; 7 April 1884 – 16 May 1942) was a Polish-British anthropologist and ethnologist whose writings on ethnography, social theory, and field research have exerted a lasting influence on the discipline of anthropol ...
(1884–1942)
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Harry Benjamin
Harry Benjamin (January 12, 1885 – August 24, 1986) was a German-American endocrinologist and sexologist, widely known for his clinical work with transgender people.
Early life and career
Benjamin was born in Berlin, and raised in a German ...
(1885–1986)
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Hans Blüher
Hans Blüher (17 February 1888 in Freiburg in Schlesien – 4 February 1955 in Berlin) was a German writer and philosopher. He attained prominence as an early member and "first historian" of the Wandervogel movement. He was aided by his taboo br ...
(1888–1955)
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Theodor Reik
Theodor Reik (; 12 May 1888, in Vienna, Austria – 31 December 1969, in New York) was a psychoanalyst who trained as one of Freud's first students in Vienna, Austria, and was a pioneer of lay analysis in the United States.
Education and career
...
(1888–1969)
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Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Instit ...
(1894–1956)
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Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich ( , ; 24 March 1897 – 3 November 1957) was an Austrian Doctor of Medicine, doctor of medicine and a psychoanalysis, psychoanalyst, along with being a member of the second generation of analysts after Sigmund Freud. The author ...
(1897–1957)
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Mary Calderone
Dr. Mary Steichen Calderone (born Mary Rose Steichen; July 1, 1904 – October 24, 1998) was an American physician, author, public speaker, and public health advocate for reproductive rights and sex education. Known as the "mother of sex education ...
(1904–1998)
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Wardell Pomeroy
Wardell Baxter Pomeroy (December 6, 1913 – September 6, 2001) was an American sexologist. He was a frequent co-author with Alfred C. Kinsey.
Biography
Pomeroy was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the son of Percy W. and Mary A. Pomeroy. He grad ...
(1913–2001)
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Albert Ellis
Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 – July 24, 2007) was an American psychologist and psychotherapist who founded rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from Columbia University, and was certi ...
(1913–2007)
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Kurt Freund
Kurt Freund (17 January 1914 – 23 October 1996) was a Czech-Canadian physician and sexologist best known for developing the penile plethysmograph (a measurement of sexual arousal in males), research studies in pedophilia, and for the "courtsh ...
(1914–1996)
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Ernest Borneman Ernst Wilhelm Julius Bornemann (12 April 1915 – 4 June 1995), also known by his self-chosen anglicisation Ernest Borneman, was a German crime writer, filmmaker, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, psychoanalyst, sexologist, communist agitat ...
(1915–1995)
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William Masters
William Howell Masters (December 27, 1915 – February 16, 2001) was an American gynecologist, best known as the senior member of the Masters and Johnson sexuality research team. Along with his partner Virginia E. Johnson, he pioneered research i ...
(1915–2001)
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Gershon Legman
Gershon Legman (November 2, 1917 – February 23, 1999) was an American cultural critic and folkloristics, folklorist, best known for his books ''The Rationale of the Dirty Joke'' (1968) and ''The Horn Book: Studies in Erotic Folklore and Bib ...
(1917–1999)
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Harold I. Lief
Harold I. Lief (1917–2007) was an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He was famous as an advocate of sex education. Lief is credited with the introduction in the DSM of the " inhibited sexual desire".
Early life and education
Lief, who was ...
John Money
John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author known for his research into sexual identity and Sex determination and differentiation (human), biology of gender. He was one of the first ...
(1921–2006)
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Robert Stoller
Robert Jesse Stoller (December 15, 1924 – September 6, 1991), was an American Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA Medical School and a researcher at the UCLA Gender Identity Clinic. He was born in Crestwood, Yonkers, New York, Crestwood, New York, ...
(1924–1991)
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Ira Reiss
Ira Leonard Reiss (born 1925) is a sociologist with primary interests in studying the way society impacts sexual attitudes and behaviors and how people respond to those pressures. He also has interests in the study of gender and family, particul ...
Preben Hertoft
Preben Hertoft (5 January 1928 – 26 February 2017), was a Danish psychiatrist and professor in medical sexology, senior doctorate in medicine.
After the death of his mentor Kirsten Auken, Hertoft worked over 40 years as a sexologist doing re ...
(1928–2017)
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Oswalt Kolle
Oswalt Kolle (2 October 1928, in Kiel – 24 September 2010, in AmsterdamOswalt K ...
(1928–2010)
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Vern Bullough
Vern Leroy Bullough (July 24, 1928 – June 21, 2006) was an American historian and sexologist.
He was a distinguished professor emeritus at the State University of New York ( SUNY) at Buffalo, Faculty President at California State University, No ...
Ruth Westheimer
Karola Ruth Westheimer ( Siegel; born June 4, 1928), better known as Dr. Ruth, is a German-American sex therapist, talk show host, author, professor, Holocaust survivor, and former Haganah sniper.
Westheimer was born in Germany to a Jewish fami ...
(1928–present)
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John Gagnon
John H. Gagnon (November 22, 1931 – February 11, 2016) was a pioneering sociologist of human sexuality who wrote and edited 15 books and over 100 articles. He collaborated with William Simon to develop the piece he is perhaps best recognized ...
(1931–2016)
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Fritz Klein
Fritz Klein (24 November 1888 – 13 December 1945) was an Austrian Nazi doctor and war criminal, hanged for his role in atrocities at Auschwitz concentration camp and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust.
Early life and educ ...
(1932–2006)
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Milton Diamond
Milton Diamond (born March 6, 1934) is an American Professor Emeritus of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. After a career in the study of human sexuality, Diamond retired from the university in December 200 ...
(1934–present)
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Erwin J. Haeberle Erwin J. Haeberle (30 March 1936 – 1 October 2021) was a German social scientist and sexologist.
Biography
Haeberle was born on 30 March 1936 in Dortmund, Germany and died in Freiburg, Germany. From 1956 to 1963 he studied drama, German, En ...
(1936–2021)
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Marco Aurelio Denegri
Marco Aurelio Denegri Santagadea (16 May 1938 – 27 July 2018) was a Peruvian intellectual, literary critic, television host and sexologist.
Early life and education
His father was Julio Ernesto Denegri Cornejo - his grandfather was Marco ...
(1938–2018)
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Gunter Schmidt
Gunter Schmidt (born 22 November 1938) is a German sexologist, psychotherapist and social psychologist. He was born in Berlin.
Schmidt was the director of the centre for sexual research in the clinic of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppe ...
(1938–present)
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Rolf Gindorf
Rolf Gindorf (14 May 1939 – 26 March 2016) was a German sexologist. He was a member of Mensa. In 1971 he founded the German Society for Social-Scientific Sexuality Research.
He received the 2004 Magnus Hirschfeld Medal The Magnus Hirschfeld ...
(1939–2016)
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Volkmar Sigusch
Volkmar Sigusch (born 11 June 1940) is a German sexologist, physician and sociologist. From 1973 to 2006, he was the director of the ''Institut für Sexualwissenschaft'' (Institute for Sexual Science) at the clinic of Goethe University in Frankf ...
(1940–present)
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Beverly Whipple
Beverly Whipple is Professor Emerita at Rutgers University and a professional author and sexologist. She is a co-author of the publication '' The G Spot and Other Recent Discoveries About Human Sexuality.''
Career
Following a career in nursing, ...
(1941–present)
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Martin Dannecker
Martin Dannecker (born 1942 in Oberndorf am Neckar) is a German sexologist and author.
Dannecker was born in Oberndorf am Neckar. After his schooling, he initially entered industrial retailing and later trained as an actor at a theater school in ...
(1942–present)
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Shere Hite
Shere Hite (; November 2, 1942 – September 9, 2020) was an American-born German sex educator and feminist. Her sexological work focused primarily on female sexuality. Hite built upon biological studies of sex by Masters and Johnson and by Alfred ...
(1943–2020)
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Ray Blanchard
Ray Milton Blanchard ( ; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist, best known for his research studies on transsexualism, pedophilia and sexual orientation. He found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay tha ...
(1945–present)
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Pepper Schwartz
Pepper Schwartz (born May 11, 1945) is an American sexologist and sociologist teaching at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. She is the author or co-author of numerous books, magazines, and web ...
(1945–present)
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Gilbert Herdt
Gilbert H. Herdt (born February 24, 1949) is Emeritus Professor of Human Sexuality Studies and Anthropology and a Founder of the Department of Sexuality Studies and National Sexuality Resource Center at San Francisco State University. He founded ...
(1949–present)
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Pan Suiming
Pan Suiming (; born 1950) is a Chinese sexologist and professor at the Renmin University of China who has taught sexology for more than 30 years. He is hailed as "the First Person in Sexology in China".
Early life
Pan was born in 1950 to an offi ...
(1950–present)
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Kenneth Zucker
Kenneth J. Zucker (; born 1950) is an American-Canadian psychologist and sexologist. He was named editor-in-chief of ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' in 2001. He was psychologist-in-chief at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) ...
(1950–present)
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Ava Cadell
Ava Cadell (born Ildiko Eva Csath; June 15, 1956) is a former actress, writer, producer and currently a therapist and speaker on issues of sexuality.
Career
Cadell has a doctorate in human behavior from Newport University (California) and a ...
(1955–present)
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Carol Queen
Carol Queen (born 1957) is an American author, editor, sociologist, and sexologist active in the sex-positive feminism movement. Queen is a two time Grand Marshal of San Francisco LGBTQ Pride. Queen has written on human sexuality in books such as ...
(1958–present)
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James Cantor
James M. Cantor is an American-Canadian clinical psychologist and sexologist specializing in hypersexuality and paraphilias.
A former senior scientist with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto,Marta Crawford (1969–present)
File:Sigmund Freud, by Max Halberstadt (cropped).jpg,
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies explained as originatin ...
File:Magnus Hirschfeld 1929.jpg,
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist.
Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
File:Alfred Kinsey 1955.jpg,
Alfred Kinsey
Alfred Charles Kinsey (; June 23, 1894 – August 25, 1956) was an American sexologist, biologist, and professor of entomology and zoology who, in 1947, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University, now known as the Kinsey Instit ...
See also
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Certified sex therapist Certified Sex Therapists (CST) have graduate degrees in a clinical mental health field (e.g., clinical psychology, social work, mental health counseling) and have obtained advanced training in sex therapy from a credentialed training body, resulting ...
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Gender and sexuality studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
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List of academic journals in sexology
This is a representative list of academic and scientific journals in sexology (i.e., sexuality research) and its various subfields.
Currently in print
* '' Advances in Sexual Medicine'' ()
* '' AIDS and Behavior''
* '' AIDS Education and Preve ...
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List of sexology organizations
This is a list of organizations and institutions of professional sexologists, sex researchers, and sexual behavior scientists. These do not include organizations of non-professionals, political advocacy or activist groups (although some organizati ...
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Philosophy of sex
Philosophy of sex is an aspect of applied philosophy involved with the study of sex and love. It includes both ethics of phenomena such as prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, sexual identity, the age of consent, homosexuality, and conceptual a ...
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Sex education
Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...
Sexophobia
Sexophobia is the fear of sexual organs or sexual activities
Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual a ...
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Porn Studies
''Porn Studies'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of pornography. It is published by Routledge and was established in 2014. The editors-in-chief are Feona Attwood (Middlesex University), John Mercer (Birmingham City ...