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This study situates Henry Havelock Ellis's sexological research within the nineteenth-century evolutionary debates, especially the discussion over sexual selection's applicability to humanity. For example, Ellis's monograph on sexual behavior, Sexual Inversion (1897), treated inborn homosexuality as a natural variation of evolutionary mechanisms. This book was situated within a longer study of human sexuality in relation to evolutionary selection. His later works dealt even more directly with Charles Darwin's concept of selection, such as Sexual Selection in Man (1905). Through Sexual Selection in Man, Ellis asserted that sexual attraction stemmed from a physical cause rather than an innate aesthetic sense. I argue that Ellis's best-known historical publications, including his work on sexual inversion, were intended to intervene in the contemporary evolutionary debates. This analysis also identifies a specific point where evolutionary theory informed the foundation of sexology as a scientific discipline., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

BackgroundStudies assessing risk of sexual behavior and disease are often plagued by questions about the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of self-reported sexual history among urbanized women in a prospective study of cervical HPV infections in Nigeria.MethodsWe examined test–retest reliability of sexual practices using questionnaires administered at study entry and at follow-up visits. We used the root mean squared approach to calculate within-person coefficient of variation (CVw) and calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) using two way, mixed effects models for continuous variables and (κ^) statistics for discrete variables. To evaluate the potential predictors of reliability, we used linear regression and log binomial regression models for the continuous and categorical variables, respectively.ResultsWe found that self-reported sexual history was generally reliable, with overall ICC ranging from 0.7 to 0.9; however, the reliability varied by nature of sexual behavior evaluated. Frequency reports of non-vaginal sex (agreement = 63.9%, 95% CI: 47.5–77.6%) were more reliable than those of vaginal sex (agreement = 59.1%, 95% CI: 55.2–62.8%). Reports of time-invariant behaviors were also more reliable than frequency reports. The CVw for age at sexual debut was 10.7 (95% CI: 10.6–10.7) compared with the CVw for lifetime number of vaginal sex partners, which was 35.2 (95% CI: 35.1–35.3). The test–retest interval was an important predictor of reliability of responses, with longer intervals resulting in increased inconsistency (average change in unreliability for each 1 month increase = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.07–0.38, p = 0.005).ConclusionOur findings suggest that overall, the self-reported sexual history among urbanized Nigeran women is reliable.

Sources from Mesopotamia contextualize the emergence of kissing and its role in disease transmission.

Female ejaculation is a contentious topic. From a review of the literature, history indicates that it is not a modern concept; some females were aware of it in times past without understanding the role of the fluid or composition of the ejaculate. Over time, scholars experimented, mainly with anatomical studies, in an attempt to identify the source of the ejaculate and explore its physiological and anatomical benefits for the female sexual experience. Despite these studies, views about female ejaculation remain controversial and inconsistent, with no clear conclusion as to its function. This review discusses the history of studies of female ejaculation and presents various hypotheses from an anatomical and physiological perspective. After reviewing 44 publications from 1889 to 2019, it became apparent that clinical and anatomical studies conducted during recent decades provide substantial evidence in support of the female ejaculatory phenomenon. Anatomical studies have shown that the ejaculate originates in the paraurethral (Skene's) glands, but its composition has been debated. Female ejaculate differs from urine in its creatinine and urea concentrations. The fluid also contains prostate specific antigen (PSA) and could have antibacterial properties that serve to protect the urethra. While the specific function of female ejaculation remains a topic of debate, there is sufficient evidence to support the existence of the phenomenon., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Interview with Patricia Brennan, who studies genital co-evolution and sexual conflict in vertebrates at Mount Holyoke College., (Copyright © 2020.)

This study analyzes the different meanings produced, transmitted and circulated by the journal Cultura Sexual y Física (1937-1941) about sexualities, bodies, desires and forms of otherness from the standpoint of and based on physical culture. In the journal, which was published in Buenos Aires but had an international readership, we examine these issues from a gender perspective via critical discursive analysis in order to demonstrate the nuances, continuities and departure points with regard to the dominant discourse. Hence, we show the polemics triggered by this publication and the attacks on it by conservative sectors, which led to it being banned.

Life history theory predicts that exposure to high mortality in early childhood leads to faster and riskier reproductive strategies. Individuals who grew up in a high mortality regime will not overly wait until they find a suitable partner and form a stable union because premature death would prevent them from reproducing. Cox proportional hazard models were used to determine whether women who experienced sibling death during early childhood (0-5 years) reproduced earlier and were at an increased risk of giving birth to an illegitimate child, with illegitimacy serving as a proxy for risky sexual behavior. Furthermore, we investigate whether giving birth out of wedlock is influenced by individual mortality experience or by more promiscuous sexual behavior that is clustered in certain families. Models are fitted on pedigree data from the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Krummhörn population in Germany. The results show a relationship between sibling death in early childhood and the risk of reproducing out of wedlock, and reproductive timing. The risk of giving birth out of wedlock is linked to individual mortality experience rather than to family-level effects. In contrast, adjustments in connubial reproductive timing are influenced more by family-level effects than by individual mortality experience.

This article opens with the brief life histories of reared-apart monozygotic (MZ) male twins. A New York City program that helped childless couples conceive via artificial insemination from the 1930s to the 1950s is examined as it related to these twins. The frequency with which pregnancies following assisted reproductive technology resulted in MZ twin pairs is also provided. Next, summaries of twin research concerning selective resuscitation, gene editing, sexual arousal and jejuno-ileal atresia are presented. The article ends with media reports of twin girls' efforts to find a bone marrow donor for their father, possible parasitic twinning in a puppy, identical female twins' business venture, the surgical separation of craniopagus twins, a twin-themed magazine cartoon and tragic events involving identical male twins.

In early modern Scotland, several visionaries experienced vivid relationships with spirits. This paper analyses their experiences historically, with the aid of modern scholarship in medicine, psychology and social science. Most of the visionaries were women. Most of their spirit-guides were fairies or ghosts. There could be traumas in forming or maintaining the relationship, and visionaries often experienced spirit-guides as powerful, capricious and demanding. It is argued that some visionaries experienced psychotic conditions, including psychosomatic injuries, sleepwalking, mutism and catatonia. Further conditions related to visionary experience were not necessarily pathological, notably fantasy-proneness and hallucinations. Imaginary companions and parasocial relationships are discussed, as are normality, abnormality and coping strategies. There are concluding reflections on links between culture and biology.

This contribution explores the historical developments of transnational lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) psychology in Colombia, the Philippines, Russia, and South Africa in relationship to U.S. LGBT psychology. LGBTI psychology in these diverse contexts share commonalities but also have important variations in their development and focus within LGBTI concerns. The International Psychology Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Issues (IPsyNet) provides a model for international professional psychology collaboration and linkage on behalf of advocacy for LGBTI rights and sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression concerns. Although there is the risk of transnational LGBTI psychology(ies) reproducing European-North American (Euro-N.A.) "homonationalism" and contributing to neo-colonization, these case examples illustrate the dynamic potential of transnational LGBTI psychology, including the possibilities of psychology to develop LGBTI psychologies drawing from indigenous as well as international structures and platforms, influencing Euro-N.A. models in the process. Finally, this article describes the promise and the limitations of transnational LGBTI psychology, including the role of human rights frameworks, as well as advocacy within professional psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This article introduces the special issue Fifty Years Since Stonewall: The Science and Politics of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. Here, the commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall uprising frames our discussion of issues of representation that arise in commemorating events in general, and events in the history of psychology in particular. We describe how the articles in the special issue expand the existing narratives about the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender psychology that are centered in the United States, focused primarily on sexual orientation and often end, rather than begin, in the time of Stonewall. The international scope of the special issue can suggest new ways to particularize histories of psychology since Stonewall that are centered on the United States. We describe the ideological context that shapes the doing of psychology since Stonewall, the telling of the histories of that psychology, and how "the problem of speaking for others" arises in contexts of power, including the curation of the special issue itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This study explores representations of homosexuality in the psychiatric and sexology literature between the 1960s and the 1980s in Hungary with special attention to women. The literature is indicative of how psy sciences interacted with the system of norms on gender and sexual orientation embedded within the social and political context of the era. Examination of these sources shows a predominantly pathologizing-normative discursive framework deployed by experts. The fundamental therapeutic aim was to achieve good social adaptation. In this process, psy experts were influential representatives of the heteronormative society, reinforcing gender norms and state-socialist family ideals. Within the psychological discourses on homosexuality, the case of women had some special characteristics. Their sexual choices were represented as more alterable than men's and linked to emotional factors in the first place. In women's case, there was usually no "need" for therapeutic conversion because socially prescribed gender norms worked strongly enough and the lack of sexual pleasure with men was not considered a significant problem. Professional and popular psychiatric and sexology literature on homosexuality indicate that whereas for men, transgressing normative (hetero)sexuality was the stronger taboo, for women, it was the unfulfilled order of marriage and motherhood that was considered the most serious deviance, and lesbian relationships had to be prevented for this reason. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

This article constructs a brief history of how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) issues have intersected with South African psychology at key sociopolitical moments, filling a gap in current histories. Organized psychology-a primary focus of this analysis-since its first formations in 1948, mostly colluded with apartheid governments by othering queerness as psychopathology or social deviance. The National Party, both homophobic and racist, ruled the country from 1948 until the first democratic elections in 1994. The acceleration of antiapartheid struggles in the 1980s saw progressive psychologists develop more critical forms of theory and practice. However, LGBTI+ issues remained overshadowed by the primary struggle for racial equality and democracy. Psychology's chameleon-like adaptation to evolving eras resulted in a unified organization when apartheid ended: the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). Democratic South Africa's Constitution took the bold step of protecting sexuality as a fundamental human right, galvanizing a fresh wave of LGBTI+ scholarship post-1994. However, LGBTI+ people still suffered prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Additionally, psychology training continued to ignore sexual orientation and gender-affirmative health care in curricula. PsySSA therefore joined the International Psychology Network for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Issues (IPsyNet) in 2007, catalyzing the PsySSA African LGBTI+ Human Rights Project in 2012 and two pioneering publications: a position statement on affirmative practice in 2013, and practice guidelines for psychology professionals working with sexually and gender-diverse people in 2017. This article traces a neglected history of South African psychology, examining the political, social, and institutional factors that eventually enabled the development of LGBTI+ affirmative psychologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

An extensive review and textual analysis of the academic and popular literature of the human alpha female was conducted to examine the social construction and expression of the alpha female identity in a small non-random sample of North American women (N = 398). This review revealed 2 predominant alpha female representations in the literature-one more masculine versus one more feminine-and 21 alpha female variables. In this sample of women, the "alpha female" was found to be a recognized socially constructed female identity. Univariate analysis revealed positive and highly significant differences in self-reported mean scores between alpha (N = 94) and non-alpha (N = 304) females for 10 variables including, masculine traits, leadership, strength, low introversion, self-esteem, life satisfaction, sexual experience, initiates sex, enjoys sex and playing a dominant role in sexual encounters, with alpha females scoring higher than non-alphas. The measure of masculine traits was identified as the only predictor of alpha female status as per the multiple regression model. Interestingly, both alpha and non-alpha women scored the same for the measure of feminine traits. Further, both groups scored higher for feminine traits than masculine traits. The results also revealed that neither social dominance nor sexual dominance were predictors of alpha female status which challenge academic and popularized representations of this identity. The results suggest that although the alpha female is often regarded as an exceptional and, at times, an exoticized form of femininity, like other femininities, her identity is marked by contradictions and tensions., Competing Interests: The author has declared that no competing interests exist.

Although sodomy was purportedly an "unmentionable vice" in the early modern period, popular songs from the Low Countries paint a different picture. Bringing musical sources to bear upon the subject adds an extra dimension to the now widely held view that sodomy was a multimedia phenomenon in early modern society. Sodomy was represented in art, literature, poetry, and popular song as well. These songs were pedagogical in that they aimed to encourage performers and audience to live a pious life, and they stimulated the formation of confessional identities. By drawing attention to this neglected chapter in the history of homosexuality-popular song in the early modern Low Countries-this article seeks to contribute to the research on cultural perceptions of sodomy in the period.

Objective: To identify evidence that vaginal jade eggs were recommended or used in sexual health practices or for pelvic muscle exercises in ancient Chinese culture., Materials and Methods: A search of the online databases of 4 major Chinese art and archeology collections in the United States., Results: More than 5000 jade objects were viewable in online databases. No vaginal jade eggs were identified., Conclusions: No evidence was found to support the claim that vaginal jade eggs were used for any indication in ancient Chinese culture.

John Cleland's 1740s pornographic novel, Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure repeatedly depicts and eroticises the act of defloration. As such it is a revealing illustration of what Ivan Bloch termed the 'defloration mania' of the eighteenth century. This article maps narrative events on to contemporary medical depictions of first intercourse to show the ways that the theories and ideas presented in medical and pseudo-medical texts transferred into erotic fiction and demonstrates how in some instances the bloody defloration scenes can be read as being sex during menstruation, an act which was culturally forbidden at this time.

Background: Studies assessing risk of sexual behavior and disease are often plagued by questions about the reliability of self-reported sexual behavior. In this study, we evaluated the reliability of self-reported sexual history among urbanized women in a prospective study of cervical HPV infections in Nigeria., Methods: We examined test-retest reliability of sexual practices using questionnaires administered at study entry and at follow-up visits. We used the root mean squared approach to calculate within-person coefficient of variation (CV w ) and calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) using two way, mixed effects models for continuous variables and [Formula: see text] statistics for discrete variables. To evaluate the potential predictors of reliability, we used linear regression and log binomial regression models for the continuous and categorical variables, respectively., Results: We found that self-reported sexual history was generally reliable, with overall ICC ranging from 0.7 to 0.9; however, the reliability varied by nature of sexual behavior evaluated. Frequency reports of non-vaginal sex (agreement = 63.9%, 95% CI: 47.5-77.6%) were more reliable than those of vaginal sex (agreement = 59.1%, 95% CI: 55.2-62.8%). Reports of time-invariant behaviors were also more reliable than frequency reports. The CV w for age at sexual debut was 10.7 (95% CI: 10.6-10.7) compared with the CV w for lifetime number of vaginal sex partners, which was 35.2 (95% CI: 35.1-35.3). The test-retest interval was an important predictor of reliability of responses, with longer intervals resulting in increased inconsistency (average change in unreliability for each 1 month increase = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.07-0.38, p  = 0.005)., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that overall, the self-reported sexual history among urbanized Nigeran women is reliable.

The sexual lives of people with intellectual disability continue to be the subject of prohibition and restriction by disability sectors. Without access to sex education and the concomitant sex literacy, people with intellectual disability are denied the essential conversation about sex, sexual expression, and pleasure. The authors explore the history of sexual repression of people with intellectual disability, and the culture of sexual disempowerment. This propositional paper offers a sense of hope about sex facilitation and sex education for people with intellectual disability which can afford them a full life.

The trajectory of sexually transmissible infection (STI) incidence among gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM) suggests that incidence will likely remain high in the near future. STIs were hyperendemic globally among MSM in the decades preceding the HIV epidemic. Significant changes among MSM as a response to the HIV epidemic, caused STI incidence to decline, reaching historical nadirs in the mid-1990s. With the advent of antiretroviral treatment (ART), HIV-related mortality and morbidity declined significantly in that decade. Concurrently, STI incidence resurged among MSM and increased in scope and geographic magnitude. By 2000, bacterial STIs were universally resurgent among MSM, reaching or exceeding pre-HIV levels. While the evidence base necessary for assessing the burden STIs among MSM, both across time and across regions, continues to be lacking, recent progress has been made in this respect. Current epidemiology indicates a continuing and increasing trajectory of STI incidence among MSM. Yet increased reported case incidence of gonorrhoea is likely confounded by additional screening and identification of an existing burden of infection. Conversely, more MSM may be diagnosed and treated in the context of HIV care or as part of routine management of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), potentially reducing transmission. Optimistically, uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination may lead to a near-elimination of genital warts and reductions in HPV-related cancers. Moreover, structural changes are occurring with respect to sexual minorities in social and civic life that may offer new opportunities, as well as exacerbate existing challenges, for STI prevention among MSM.

One of the best remaining manuscripts is the "Canon of Medicine" fathered by Avicenna in the Islamic Golden Age [ninth to twelfth century AD]. Considering Avicenna's role in the development of medical science in the Islamic Golden Age, we reviewed Avicenna's point of view on sexual headache based on his famous book "Canon of Medicine". This historical review discusses the clinical approaches applied to diagnose, classify, and treat sexual headache-specifically herbal therapy-from the viewpoint of Avicenna and Traditional Persian Medicine. The accurate observations of Avicenna give a comprehensive classified etiology of the sexual headache. The efficacy of some medicinal herbs used by him for sexual headache treatments, such as the analgesic effect of lavender, chamomile, and jasmine has been proved by current medicine; however, the knowledge of medieval physicians should be scientifically investigated even further to extend new remedial options for sexual headache.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, a group of doctors under the banner of the social hygiene movement set out on what seemed an improbable mission: to convince American men that they did not need sex. This was in part a response to venereal disease. Persuading young men to adopt the standard of sexual discipline demanded of women was the key to preserving the health of the nation from the ravages of syphilis and gonorrhoea. But their campaign ran up against the doctrine of male sexual necessity, a doctrine well established in medical thought and an article of faith for many patients. Initially, social hygienists succeeded in rallying much of the medical community. But this success was followed by a series of setbacks. Significant dissent remained within the profession. Even more alarmingly, behavioural studies proved that many men simply were not listening. The attempt to repudiate the doctrine of male sexual necessity showed the ambition of Progressive-era doctors, but also their powerlessness in the face of entrenched beliefs about the linkage in men between sex, health and success.

Based on Bourdieu's field theory, this article analyzes the emergence and institutionalization of sexology as a science and profession in Portugal, identifying relevant institutions, actors, and professional practices and discussing its relations and specificities. The analysis begins by contextualizing the emergence of modern Western sexology in order to comprehend the Portuguese case in the international sexology context. The second section describes the social, cultural, and institutional factors that have driven the professionalization of sexology. The third section describes the emergence of Portuguese sexology and its principal historical milestones, institutions, and actors. Finally, the article discusses some implications of this process for the role of sexology as a science and profession. The study reveals the dynamics of national and international processes in the field, in the transition from a holistic perspective of sexology to the hegemony of sexual medicine, and sheds light on its mechanisms of legitimation as a transdisciplinary science of sexuality, suggesting future perspectives.

This president's column provides the current position of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association (CFHA) in reference to the law passed in North Carolina on March 23, 2016, limiting the civil rights of LGBTQ people. This law troubles the CFHA deeply. This is an organization that promotes collaborative patient- and family-centered care. It currently celebrates diversity and rejects discrimination in any form. After considerable thought and review of alternative actions, the Board of CFHA determined that our best course is to proceed with plans for an annual conference in Charlotte, a city that has attempted to strengthen legal protection of the rights of its LGBTQ citizens. CFHA will use this opportunity to demonstrate our support for inclusion and cultural competence by convening a robust and timely conversation about the underlying issues raised by House Bill 2 and our role as collaborative care professionals. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

In this article we discuss the changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) classification of gender identity-related conditions over time, and indicate how these changes were associated with the changes in conceptualization. A diagnosis of 'transsexualism' appeared first in DSM-III in 1980. This version also included a childhood diagnosis: gender identity disorder of childhood. As research about gender incongruence/gender dysphoria increased, the terminology, placement and criteria were reviewed in successive versions of the DSM. Changes in various aspects of the diagnosis, however, were not only based on research. Social and political factors contributed to the conceptualization of gender incongruence/gender dysphoria as well.

Background: Behaviour is guided by perceptions and traditions. As such, understanding culture and religion is important in order to understand healthcare behaviour. Religious perceptions shape a person's understanding of the world and are maintained through texts and tradition. One such important religious text in relation to sexual and reproductive health is the Nativity story. This account of the conception and birth of Jesus is well known in the Christian cultural sphere and beyond, and it has for generations shaped perceptions of childbirth., Methods: This paper attempts a re-reading of the Nativity story using a hermeneutic approach., Results and Conclusion: This reveals a dual understanding of the Nativity, not just as an account of immaculate transcendence and a rosy Christmas tale, but as a source of identification for pregnant women and mothers and a call to action for improved maternal and child healthcare.

Before the 1970s, psychologists and other mental health professionals who had sex with their patients committed no ethical violations. Indeed, the line between seduction and sexual exploitation in the therapy hour was extremely blurry to patients and therapists alike. This article is about how that changed. We focus on feminist psychologists' efforts, through the American Psychological Association Task Force on Sex Bias and Sex Role Stereotyping in Psychotherapeutic Practice, to document and reduce sexism in psychotherapy, including that involving therapist-client sexual relations. We contextualize these efforts within the larger feminist critique of the psy-disciplines that began in the late 1960s, highlighting how psychologists used several feminist strategies to recast seduction as sexism and revise the profession's ethical standards to specifically state that sexual intimacies with clients are unethical. As an example of a feminist intervention into psychology's-and society's-extant gender ideologies, this process highlights the mutually reinforcing entanglements of psychology and feminism, both methodologically and politically., ((c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).)

Physicians deliberately inoculated marginalized patients with malaria, using them as reservoirs to facilitate malarial fever therapy for syphilitic patients. The history presents ethical questions in an evolving historical context.

The ancient Greek physicians have not failed in their studies to indicate the beneficial role of sexual activity in human health. They acknowledged that sex helps to maintain mental balance. Very interesting is their observation that sex may help mental patients to recover. Nevertheless they stressed emphatically that sex is beneficial only when there is a measure in it, so they believed that sexual abstinence or excessive sexual activity affect negatively the mental and physical health of man. Ancient Greek physicians reached this conclusion by empirical observation. They tried to justify the mental imbalance, as the potential physical problems, which probably will be listed today in the psychosomatic manifestations, of people with long-term sexual abstinence or hyperactivity, based on the theory of humors which was the main methodological tool of ancient Greek medicine. Their fundamental idea was that the four humors of the body (blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile) should be in balance. Therefore they believed that the loss and the exchange of bodily fluids during sex help body's humors to maintain their equilibrium which in turn will form the basis for the physical and mental health. Although in ancient medical texts the irrationality presented by people in the aforementioned conditions was not attributed in any of the major mental illnesses recognized in antiquity, as mania, melancholy and phrenitis, our belief is that their behavior is more suited to the characteristics of melancholy, while according to modern medicine it should be classified in the depressive disorders. We have come to this conclusion, because common characteristics of people who either did not have sexual life or was overactive, was sadness, lack of interest and hope, as well as paranoid thinking that can reach up to suicide. Regarding the psychosomatic problems, which could occur in these people, they were determined by the ancient Greek physicians in the following; continuous headaches and heaviness, dilatancy, pain, dysuria and fever. But all these symptoms would disappear when the man gained a measure sexual activity, as was categorically stated by Galen. It is striking that these ideas were maintained over time, starting already from the authors of the Hippocratic Corpus, from which the distinguished work De virginum morbis, refers indeed to women who reached the point of suicide due to the absence sexual life, hanging themselves or falling into wells and eventually passing to the works of Rufus of Ephesus, Soranus of Ephesus and Galen.

This article questions the historical awareness of the DSM-5 by investigating first the treatment of prostitution from the Victorian period to today as a means of medicalizing desire; and second, by looking at the category of hebephilia, where modern medicalizing classifications are criticized for ignoring ancient evidence. By this comparative method, the article shows how ignoring historical evidence allows the social and ideological elements in the work of defining psychological sexual diseases to remain concealed.

The ratio between the body circumference at the waist and the hips (or WHR) is a secondary sexual trait that is unique to humans and is well known to influence men's mate preferences. Because a woman's WHR also provides information about her age, health and fertility, men's preference concerning this physical feature may possibly be a cognitive adaptation selected in the human lineage. However, it is unclear whether the preferred WHR in western countries reflects a universal ideal, as geographic variation in non-western areas has been found, and discordances about its temporal consistency remain in the literature. We analyzed the WHR of women considered as ideally beautiful who were depicted in western artworks from 500 BCE to the present. These vestiges of the past feminine ideal were then compared to more recent symbols of beauty: Playboy models and winners of several Miss pageants from 1920 to 2014. We found that the ideal WHR has changed over time in western societies: it was constant during almost a millennium in antiquity (from 500 BCE to 400 CE) and has decreased from the 15th century to the present. Then, based on Playboy models and Miss pageants winners, this decrease appears to slow down or even reverse during the second half of the 20th century. The universality of an ideal WHR is thus challenged, and historical changes in western societies could have caused these variations in men's preferences. The potential adaptive explanations for these results are discussed.

It is well established that in most belligerent countries in World Wars 1 and 2, sex ratios (proportions male at birth) rose during and just after hostilities: then, a year or so later, they declined to normal levels. There is no established explanation for these phenomena. I have previously written on this problem. Here, I elaborate on my previous papers in three ways. First, further evidence (some analytic and some synthetic) is adduced to support the hypothesis that the rises were caused by high parental coital rates. Second, further evidence is adduced to suggest that these high coital rates occurred disproportionately often in couples of whom the man was (or had been) in the armed services. Thirdly, evidence is offered to suggest why such rises in sex ratio were not reported in other conflicts., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this article is to analyze the discourse of sexual excess produced by Brazilian social thinking in the 1920s and 1930s and its dialog with the medical discourse at the time. Inspired by Foucault, it is within the field of the history of knowledge and is supported by sociology and medical documents from the period in question.Within the framework of the twentieth century re-codification of the imagery of Brazilianness, the topic of sexual excess was revisited by local thinkers in the field of sociology and seen either as disturbing the national civilizing project, or as a trait that should be seen in a positive light because it permitted the cultural hybridization of its sources of identity.

Introduction: The occurrence of sleep-related erections (SREs) has been known since antiquity., Aim: To highlight historical, theological, and sexual medicine-related aspects of SREs throughout the ages., Methods: Review of old medical books on male sexual functioning and review of scientific medical and theological articles on SREs from about 1900 on., Results: The cyclic character of SREs was first noted by German researchers in the forties of the 20th century. However, already before the beginning of the Christian era, one knew that men had erections and ejaculations during sleep. In the Middle Ages, SREs were generally considered to be rebellious manifestations of the male body, while it seemed to disobey its owner and showed up its perverted and sinful side. From the fifteenth to the end of the 17th century, severe erectile dysfunction (ED) was ground for divorce. The ecclesiastical court records show that if necessary, the members of the jury sat at the defendant's bedside at night to be able to judge any SREs occurring. Since the 17th century, SREs were considered to be part of masturbation, which could cause many ailments and diseases. Psychoanalyst Stekel acknowledged in 1920 that a morning erection, the last SRE, is a naturally occurring phenomenon in healthy men from infancy to old age. Today, some scientists assume that SREs protect the integrity of the penile cavernous bodies., Conclusions: Throughout the ages, philosophers, theologians, physicians, members of ecclesial law courts, psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, sexologists, physiologists, and urologists have shown interest in SREs. Obviously, the observations and testing of SREs have a long history, from antiquity to modern sleep labs, in men and in women, in newborns and old adults, by penis rings with sharp spikes to fancy strain gauge devices. Despite all these efforts, the mechanisms leading to SREs and its function are however not yet completely understood., (© 2014 International Society for Sexual Medicine.)

The contemporary sexual medicine case history is grounded in the Biopsychosocial Model and its recognition that the past influences one's current interpretation of symptoms. However, the thread of this model can be found throughout the case studies of the early pioneers of sexology. These early investigators began with examinations of homosexual men, slowly moving toward awareness that male sexuality comprises a continuum, while striving to place sexual behavior in a biologic context. Their perspectives served to establish the groundwork for the emerging construct of sexuality and helped shape current methods for identification of sexual function concerns.

We document the historical and cultural shifts in how gay and bisexual men have used the Internet for sexuality between the 1990s and 2013-including shifting technology as well as research methods to study gay and bisexual men online. Gay and bisexual men have rapidly taken to using the Internet for sexual purposes: for health information seeking, finding sex partners, dating, cybersex, and pornography. Men have adapted to the ever-evolving technological advances that have been made in connecting users to the Internet-from logging on via dial-up modem on a desktop computer to geo-social-sexual networking via handheld devices. In kind, researchers have adapted to the Internet to study gay and bisexual men. Studies have carefully considered the ethics, feasibility, and acceptability of using the Internet to conduct research and interventions. Much of this work has been grounded in models of disease prevention, largely as a result of the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. The need to reduce HIV in this population has been a driving force to develop innovative research and Internet-based intervention methodologies. The Internet, and specifically mobile technology, is an environment gay and bisexual men are using for sexual purposes. These innovative technologies represent powerful resources for researchers to study and provide outreach.

Previous studies of ancient Greek examples of uxoricide in pregnancy have concluded that the theme is used to suggest tyrannical abuse of power and that the violence is a product of the patriarchal nature of ancient society. This article uses evolutionary analyses of violence during pregnancy to argue that the themes of sexual jealousy and uncertainty over paternity are as crucial as the theme of power to an understanding of these examples and that the examples can be seen as typical instances of spousal abuse as it occurs in all types of society.

Petrus Hispanus was the only practicing physician ever to become Pope (1276-77). By all accounts he was an interim choice when rival French and Italian Cardinals could not elect one of their own nationality. Although not clearly responsible for any major political actions by the Church, Petrus was famous for several centuries after his death because of his secular writings - a text on logic (Summulae logicales) and a handbook on medicine (Thesaurus pauperum). The latter is noteworthy because it contains two sections on coitus - how to enhance the sexual act and how to subdue sexual urges. Promoting coitus seems an odd topic for a medieval Catholic cleric-writer and raises the question as to whether the first section may have been added by a later copyist or editor, but an examination of a very early manuscript of the Thesaurus gives assurance that the two sexual sections were written by Petrus, probably around 1270.

This article focuses on how the sexuality of convict women transported in the first half of the nineteenth century to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was monitored by the British establishment. A series of Victorian enquiries into the convict system were set up to report on the efficacy of transportation. I argue that the anxious discussion and ensuing policies used to observe, curtail, punish, and "correct" convict women's bodies reveal the processes by which Victorian gender, class, and race regimes were socially constructed. Further, the article argues that convict women used various tools of resistance and defiance, one of which was the formation of lesbian sub-cultures as the embodiment of sexual dissidence.

This article presents a historical overview of research on sexually abusive youth. The evolution of the field over the past 30 years is discussed-from the initial development of treatment interventions to contemporary efforts of professionals to move from traditional, adult-oriented interventions toward developmentally sensitive assessment strategies and practice models. Focus is on two critical areas: risk assessment and trauma-informed care. The article reviews contemporary research on risk assessment tools, stressing the need for validated tools that can accurately assess youth and follow changes in risk over time. Etiological models for understanding effects of trauma (Trauma Outcome Process Assessment and Family Lovemap) are presented. Discussed are new ecologically based therapy models for working with sexually abusive youth that approach the youth holistically and are attuned to youths' needs, including providing interventions to address effects of past trauma.

Erotic arts express the relation of a person to his or her sexual orientation. Scrutinizing works of arts of that kind could explore unanswered questions about 'normal' and 'perverse' sexuality. Beyond the possibilities of forensic psychiatry the ethical, legal, and social consequences should be more intensely studied. At the same time the employment of modern functional brain imaging techniques is also warranted in the research of eroticism.

Anne Lister has recently been turned from a relatively obscure figure of scholarly interest into a modern-day icon of lesbian sexuality. This article asks what gesture we perform when we celebrate Lister's life through the lens of modernity. Why do we need Lister to be modern, and what does it mean to be so? If Lister is recognizable to us as an active and unashamed lesbian subject, is it that modernity itself has managed to erase queer shame? Arguably, rather than claiming Lister for modernity, perhaps it is Lister who is putting our modernity into question.

The "cyberworld" in which we live has fundamentally and irrevocably changed the nature of human interaction. For many, electronic mail, texting, and social networking sites have significantly limited traditional face-to-face interaction. While the benefits of technological progress are self-evident, the ease with which people can share personal information virtually has also produced troubling byproducts. The transmission of sexually provocative images between teenagers, known colloquially as "sexting," is one such example. As suicides and other sexting-related tragedies multiply, jurisdictions coast-to-coast are searching frantically for ways to curb the practice. Due to the harshness of existing criminal statutes, legislators have favored the creation of a separate sexting offense to address misconduct. Because these new laws vary greatly in both content and severity of prescribed penalties, some have argued that they are unprincipled. In light of contemporary societal disinterest in prosecuting consensual sexual activity between adolescents, critics also consider them misguided and anachronistic. These allegations suffer from their failure to place anti-sexting initiatives in proper historical context. These laws represent a present-day manifestation of the protectionist and paternalistic impulses that motivated statutory rape laws in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Both anti-sexting and statutory rape laws share the same fundamental goal: avoiding reputational ruin and its untoward consequences. Whereas sexual intercourse was once the necessary catalyst, electronic devices used to disseminate sexually explicit material now create the risk. In today's virtual world, sexting represents a sort of statutory rape by proxy where cell phones, laptops, and iPads provide the violative act that can ruin lives. In sum, the campaign to outlaw sexting is neither misguided nor anachronistic. It reflects a widespread belief in the need to protect adolescents from sexting-related harm, coupled with a paternalistic desire to restore some of the moral innocence that is rapidly disappearing in the teenage cyberworld.