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{{Short description|Scientific study of human sexuality}}
'''Sexology''' is the systematic study of ]. It encompasses all aspects of sexuality, including attempting to characterise "]" and its variants.
{{For|the magazine|Sexology (magazine)}}
{{Pp-pc}}
{{Sexual orientation}}


'''Sexology''' is the scientific study of ], including human sexual interests, ]s, and functions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sexology|title=Sexology|work=Merriam Webster|access-date=December 29, 2013}}</ref> The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as ].<ref name =Bullough1989/><ref name=Haeberle/>
Modern sexology is a multidisciplinary field which uses the techniques of fields including ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and sometimes ] to bear on its subject. It studies human ] and the development of ]s as well as the mechanics of ] and ]. It also documents the sexuality of special groups, such as handicapped, children, and ], and studies sexual pathologies such as ] and ].


Sexologists apply tools from several academic fields, such as ], ], ], ], ], ], and ].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Mark |title=Anthropology and Sexology |journal=The International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality |date=20 April 2015 |pages=1–111 |doi=10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs033 |isbn=9781118896877 |url=https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118896877.wbiehs033 |access-date=27 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sexology {{!}} interdisciplinary science|url=https://www.britannica.com/science/sexology|access-date=2020-07-30|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref> Topics of study include ] (puberty), ], ], ]s, sexual activities, ]s, and atypical sexual interests. It also includes the study of sexuality across the lifespan, including ], ], ], and ]. Sexology also spans sexuality among those with mental or physical disabilities. The sexological study of ]s and disorders, including ] and ], are also mainstays.
Note that sexology is considered descriptive, not prescriptive: it attempts to document reality, not to prescribe what behavior is suitable, ethical, or moral. Sexology has often been the subject of controversy between supporters of sexology, those who believe that sexology pries into matters held ], and those who ] object to its claims of ] and ].


== History == ==History==
===Early===
]s have existed since antiquity, such as ]'s {{Lang|la|]}}, the '']'' of ], the '']'', and '']''. {{lang|fr|De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris}} (''Prostitution in the City of Paris''), an early 1830s study on 3,558 registered prostitutes in ], 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.<ref name=Bullough1989>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.</ref> In England, ] was an early sexologist who lectured on topics such as the process of sex and conception.<ref name="Porter 1989 p. 49">{{cite book | last=Porter | first=R. | title=Health for Sale: Quackery in England, 1660-1850 | publisher=Manchester University Press | year=1989 | isbn=978-0-7190-1903-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9BRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA49 | access-date=2023-06-20 | page=49}}</ref>


The scientific study of sexual behavior in human beings began in the 19th century with ], whose book ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1844) ] 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."<ref>Michel Foucault, ''Abnormal: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1974-195 (Picador, 2003)''</ref> The term ''sexology'' was coined for the first time in the United States by Elizabeth Osgood Goodrich Willard in 1867.<ref>Benjamin Kahan, "The unexpected American Origins of Sexology and Sexual science: Elizabeth Osgood Goodrich Willard, Orson Squire Fowler, and the Scientification of Sex ''History of Human Sciences'' 34.1 (2020): 71-88</ref> Roughly simultaneously a group of homophile activists, not yet identifying themselves as sexologists, were responding to shifts in ]'s national borders, a crisis that brought into conflict laws that were sexually liberal and laws that criminalized behaviors such as homosexual activity.
A number of ancient ]s exist, including ]'s '']'', the '']'' of ], the '']'' and '']''. However, none of these treated sex as the subject of a formal field of scientific or medical research.


===Victorian era to WWII===
One of the earliest sex researchers prior to the 20th century sexology movement was ], whose book '']'', published in 1886, recorded a dizzying array of sexual anomalies.
], a pioneering figure in the movement towards sexual emancipation in the late 19th century]]


Despite the prevailing social attitude of sexual repression in ], the movement towards sexual emancipation began towards the end of the nineteenth century in England and Germany. In 1886, ] published ''].'' That work is considered as having established sexology as a scientific discipline.<ref name = Hoenig1977>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.</ref>
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, ] developed based on his studies of his clients. ] and ], were disciples of Freud, but rejected by him because of their emphasis of the role of sexuality for the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.


In England, the founding father of sexology was the doctor and sexologist ] who challenged the ]s of his era regarding ] and ] 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 ]), as he did not characterize it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age ]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 ] and ], both of which were later developed further by ].<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=The Language of Psycho-analysis|author1=Laplanche, J.|author2=Pontalis, J.B.|date=1988|publisher=Karnac Books|isbn=9780946439492|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCpokE8C2WgC&pg=PA45|page=45|access-date=July 25, 2015}}</ref>
] founded the '']'' (Institute for Sexology) in ] in 1919. When the Nazis took power, one of their first actions, on May 6, 1933, was to destroy the Institute and burn the library.


Ellis pioneered ] phenomena alongside the German ]. He established it as new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality.<ref name=ttp>Ekins, Richard and King, Dave (2006) ''The transgender phenomenon'', SAGE, {{ISBN|0-7619-7163-7}}, pp. 61-64</ref> Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of ], but disagreeing with his terminology, in 1913 Ellis proposed the term ''sexo-aesthetic inversion'' to describe the phenomenon.<ref name=ellis1933>{{cite book|last=Ellis|first=Albert|title=Psychology of Sex|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NSLybrnLVeIC&pg=PA209YEAR|isbn=9781443735322|publisher=Read Books|date=2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5dNnT3GuF_gC&q=father+of+sexology+ellis|title=The Real Facts Of Life: Feminism And The Politics Of Sexuality C1850-1940|author=Jackson, Margaret|year=1994|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780203992395}}</ref>
In 1947, ] founded the ] at ] at ], now called the ].


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, ], and ].<ref name=Haeberle>Haeberle, E. J. (1983). ''The birth of sexology: A brief history in documents.'' World Association for Sexology.</ref> In 1913, the first academic association was founded: the ''Society for Sexology''.<ref>Kewenig, W. A. (1983). Foreword. In E. J. Haeberle, ''The birth of sexology: A brief history in documents''. World Association for Sexology. p. 3</ref>
] released their works ''Human Sexual Response'' in 1966 and ''Human Sexual Inadequacy'' in 1970. Their books sold well, and they were founders of what became to be known as the ] in 1978.


Freud developed a theory of sexuality. These ] include: ], ], ], ] and ]. These stages run from infancy to puberty and onwards.<ref name="gutenberg">{{cite book|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14969 |title=Three Contributions to the Theory of Sex by Sigmund Freud - Free Ebook |publisher=gutenberg.org|access-date=July 25, 2015|date=2005-02-08 }}</ref> based on his studies of his clients, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ] and ] were disciples of Freud, but rejected his theories{{vague|date=November 2013}} because of their emphasis on the role of sexuality in the revolutionary struggle for the emancipation of mankind.
] developed the ] a multi-dimensional system for describing complex sexual orientation, similar to the ], but measuring seven different vectors of ] and ] separately, and allowing for change over time. In 1978 ] published ''The Bisexual Option'', a groundbreaking psychological study of ] and in 1998, he founded the ] to encourage, support and assist research and education about ].


]
The late ] was a historian of sexology, as well as a researcher in the field. A list of his books is provided.
Pre-Nazi Germany, under the sexually liberal ], organized and resisted the anti-sexual, Victorian cultural influences. The momentum from those groups led them to coordinate sex research across traditional ]s, bringing Germany to the leadership of sexology. Physician ] was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, founding the ], the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights.<ref>Goltz, Dustin (2008). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer movements. In A. Lind & S. Brzuzy (Eds.), ''Battleground: Women, gender, and sexuality, 2,'' 291. Greenwood Publishing Group, {{ISBN|978-0-313-34039-0}}</ref>


Hirschfeld also set up the first ] (Institute for Sexology) in Berlin in 1919.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Coleman |first1=Eli |last2=Ford |first2=Jessie V |title=A brief history of sexology and lessons learned |journal=] |date=2024 |volume=21 |issue=10 |pages=835–838 |doi=10.1093/jsxmed/qdae081|pmid=39350660 |pmc=11442977 |pmc-embargo-date=October 1, 2025 }}</ref> 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 ] and to be treated for their sexual concerns and dysfunctions.
== Interdisciplinary relations and limits==


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 ] or ] as separate from the categories of homosexuality, he referred to these people as ''transvestiten'' (transvestites).<ref>{{Citation | last= Hirschfeld | first= Magnus | title= Die Transvestiten. Eine Untersuchung über den erotischen Verkleidungstrieb. Mit umfangreichen casuistischen und historischen | location= Leipzig | publisher= Verlag von Max Spohr (Ferd. Spohr) | year= 1910}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last= Hirschfeld | first= Magnus | title= Homosexualitat des Mannes und des Weibes | location= Berlin | year= 1920}}</ref> Germany's dominance in sexual behavior research ended with the ].<ref name =Bullough1989/> The Institute and its library were destroyed by the Nazis less than three months after they took power, May 8, 1933.<ref name=Haeberle/> The institute was shut down and Hirschfeld's books were burned.
Sexology, as currently defined, is largely a 20th and 21st century phenomenon.


Other sexologists in the early ] included ] and ]. ], after whom the ] is named, published the initial research developing the ] (IUD).
Sexology relates to a number of other fields of study:
* several fields of ], including ], ], and the ] of the sex organs
* the ], ], and ] of sexual behavior
* ] can be used to study many basic sexual reflexes, and is increasingly relevant to more complex aspects of sexual behavior
* ] studies disorders of ] when they impact on clinical conditions or reach a point where they become ]al or sources of psychological difficulty.
* many aspects of sexual behavior are or have been regulated by ] in various jurisdictions, and various classes of sexual offences are studied by ]
* ] (general) and ] (behavioral) study the sexual behavior of other animals, which can be compared with human sexual behavior
* the techniques of ] can be brought to bear on the causes of sexual behavior
* the ] of ]s


===Post WWII===
Sexology also touches on public issues such as the debates over ], ], ], ] and ].
After World War II, sexology experienced a renaissance, both in the United States and Europe. Large scale studies of sexual behavior, sexual function, and ] gave rise to the development of ].<ref name=Haeberle/> Post-WWII sexology in the U.S. was influenced by the influx of European refugees escaping the Nazi regime and the popularity of the ]. Until that time, American sexology consisted primarily of groups working to end ] and to educate youth about ]s.<ref name =Bullough1989/> ] founded the ] at ] at ] in 1947. This is now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. He wrote in his 1948 book that more was scientifically known about the sexual behavior of farm animals than of humans.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Kinsey | first1 = Alfred C. | last2 = Martin | first2 = Clyde E. | last3 = Pomeroy | first3 = Wardell B. | author-link1 = Alfred Kinsey | author-link2 = Clyde Martin | author-link3 = Wardell Pomeroy | title = Sexual behavior in the human male | url = https://archive.org/details/sexualbehaviorin00kins | url-access = registration | page = | publisher = W.B. Saunders | location = New York and Philadelphia | year = 1948 | oclc = 705195970 }}</ref>


Psychologist and sexologist ] developed theories on sexual identity and ] in the 1950s. His work, notably on the ] case has since been regarded as controversial, even while the case was key to the development of treatment protocols for ] infants and children.<ref name="diamond">{{Cite journal | last1 = Diamond | first1 = Milton | last2 = Sigmundson | first2 = H. Keith | author-link1 = Milton Diamond | title = Sex reassignment at birth: long-term review and clinical implications | journal = ] | volume = 151 | issue = 3 | pages = 298–304 | doi = 10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170400084015 | pmid = 9080940 | date = March 1997 }}</ref><ref name="diamond2">{{Cite journal | last = Diamond | first = Milton | author-link = Milton Diamond | title = Sex, gender, and identity over the years: a changing perspective | journal = Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America | volume = 13 | issue = 3 | pages = 591–607, viii | doi = 10.1016/j.chc.2004.02.008 | pmid = 15183375 | date = July 2004 }}</ref>{{Vague|reason=What were John Money's theories? What treatments of intersex people?|date={{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}}}
==Notable contributors==


] developed the ] in ] in the 1950s. The device was designed to provide an objective measurement of ] in males and is currently used in the assessment of ] and ]. This tool has since been used with ].<ref name="apobit">{{cite news | agency = Associated Press | title = Kurt Freund, 82, notable sexologist | url = http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-96/10-29-96/c06wn888.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990220222204/http://www.s-t.com/daily/10-96/10-29-96/c06wn888.htm |archive-date=20 February 1999| date = October 26, 1996 }}</ref><ref name="kubanobit">{{cite journal | last = Kuban | first = Michael | title = Sexual Science Mentor: Dr. Kurt Freund | journal = Sexual Science | volume = 45 | issue = 2 | url = http://sexscience.org/uploads/media/sex_sci45-2.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101222215801/http://sexscience.org/uploads/media/sex_sci45-2.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2010-12-22 | date = Summer 2004 }}</ref>
''See also: ]''


In 1966 and 1970, ] 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 ] in 1978.
This is a list of sexologists and notable contributors to the field of sexology, sorted by the year of their birth:
* ] (1840-1902)
* ] (1856-1939)
* ] (1858-1928)
* ] (1859-1939)
* ] (1862-1939)
* ] (1862-1939)
* ] (1868-1935)
* ] (1872-1922)
* ] (1873-1937)
* ]<ref>Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> (1877-1963)
* ] (1877-1920)
* ] (1881-1957)
* ] (1885-1986)
* ] (1888-1969)
* ] (1894-1956)
* ] (1897-1957)
* ] (1913-2001)
* ] (1913-2007)
* ] (1914-1996)
* ] (1915-1995)
* ] (1915-2001)
* ] (born 1917)
* ] (1921-2006)
* ] (born 1925)
* ] (born 1925)
* ] (born 1928)
* ] (born 1928)
* ]<ref> Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> (1928-2006)
* William Simon<ref> Retrieved on ??</ref> (1930-2000)
* ]<ref> Retrieved on ??</ref> (born 1931)
* ]<ref> Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> (born 1932)
* ] (1932–2006)
* ] (born 1934)
* ] (born 1936)
* ] (born 1938)
* ] (born 1939)
* ] (born 1940)
* ] (born 1942)
* ] (born 1943)
* ] (born 1943)
* ] (born 1944)
* ] (born 1945)
* ] (born 1949)
* ]


] was a historian of sexology during this era, as well as being a researcher in the field.<ref name="vernbullough">{{cite web|url=http://www.vernbullough.com/bullough/publications/publicationsindex.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040727172744/http://www.vernbullough.com/bullough/publications/publicationsindex.html |archive-date=July 27, 2004 |url-status=dead |title=Dr. Vern L. Bullough: Profile |website=vernbullough.com |access-date=July 25, 2015 }}</ref>
==References==

{{Reflist}}
The emergence of ] in the 1980s caused a dramatic shift in sexological research efforts towards understanding and controlling the spread of the disease.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Gagnon | first = John H. | title = Sex research and sexual conduct in the era of AIDS | journal = ] | volume = 1 | issue = 6 | pages = 593–601 | pmid = 3225745 | date = December 1988 | url = http://journals.lww.com/jaids/Abstract/1988/12000/Sex_Research_and_Sexual_Conduct_in_the_Era_of.11.aspx }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last = Oriel | first = Jennifer | title = Sexual pleasure as a human right: Harmful or helpful to women in the context of HIV/AIDS? | journal = ] | volume = 28 | issue = 5 | pages = 392–404 | doi = 10.1016/j.wsif.2005.05.002 | date = September 2005 }} </ref>

==21st century==
Technological advances have permitted sexological questions to be addressed with studies using behavioral genetics,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Mustanski, B.S. |author2=Dupree, M. G. |author3=Nievergelt, C. |author4=Schork, N. J. |author5=Hamer, D. H. |name-list-style=& |title=Genome-wide scan demonstrates significant linkage for male sexual orientation|journal=Psychological Medicine|volume=45|issue=7|pages=1379–88|pmid=25399360|year=2015|doi=10.1017/S0033291714002451|s2cid=4027333}}</ref> neuroimaging,<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=15961048|year=2005|last1=Ferretti|first1=A|title=Dynamics of male sexual arousal: Distinct components of brain activation revealed by fMRI|journal=NeuroImage|volume=26|issue=4|pages=1086–96|last2=Caulo|first2=M|last3=Del Gratta|first3=C|last4=Di Matteo|first4=R|last5=Merla|first5=A|last6=Montorsi|first6=F|last7=Pizzella|first7=V|last8=Pompa|first8=P|last9=Rigatti|first9=P|last10=Rossini|first10=P. M.|last11=Salonia|first11=A|last12=Tartaro|first12=A|last13=Romani|first13=G. L.|doi=10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.03.025|s2cid=43785115}}</ref> and large-scale Internet-based surveys.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Lippa, R. |title=Guest Editor's Introduction to the BBC Special Section|journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior|volume=36|issue=2|page=145|doi=10.1007/s10508-006-9150-3|year=2007|s2cid=144288926|doi-access=free}}</ref>

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 ] permits from the Ordre des psychologues du Québec.<ref>{{cite web |title=Le sexologue |url=https://opsq.org/le-sexologue/ |website=Ordre professionnel des sexologues du Québec |access-date=2 November 2020}}</ref>

== Notable contributors ==
{{See also|Category:Sexologists}}

This is a list of sexologists and notable contributors to the field of sexology, by year of birth:

{{colbegin}}
* ] (1825–1895)
* ]<ref>Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality Vol. 1: The Will to Knowledge. London: Penguin (1976/1998)</ref> (1833–1890)
* ] (1840–1902)
* ] (1840–1917)
* ] (1848–1931)
* ] (1856–1939)
* ] (1858–1928)
* ] (1858–1939)
* ] (1861–1944)
* ] (1861–1950)
* ] (1862–1939)
* ] (1862–1939)
* ] (1863–1940)
* ] (aka Numa Praetorius) (1866–1951)
* ] (1868–1935)
* ] (1872–1922)
* ] (1873–1937)
* ] (1875–1947)
* ]<ref>Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> (1877–1963)
* ] (1877–1920)
* ] (1881–1957)
* ]<ref name="google2">{{cite book|title=Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology and Sexuality|author1=Lyons, A.P.|author2=Lyons, H.|date=2004|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803204379|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d6OKDA1pXV4C&pg=PA60|page=60|access-date=July 25, 2015}}</ref><ref>Malinowski, Bronislaw (1929) '']''. Kessinger Publishing. {{ISBN|1417904771}}</ref> (1884–1942)
* ] (1885–1986)
* ] (1888–1955){{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}
* ] (1888–1969)
* ] (1894–1956)
* ] (1897–1957)
* ] (1904–1998)
* ] (1913–2001)
* ] (1913–2007)
* ] (1914–1996)
* ] (1915–1995)
* ] (1915–2001)
* ] (1917–1999)
* ] (1917–2007)
* ] (1917–2015)
* ] (1921–2006)
* ] (1924–1991)
* ]<ref> Retrieved on July 02, 2009.</ref> (1925–2024)
* ] (1925–2013)
* ] (1928–2017)
* ] (1928–2010)
* ]<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140520061724/http://www.vernbullough.com/bullough/index.html |date=2014-05-20 }} Retrieved on November 23, 2007.</ref> (1928–2006)
* ] (1928–2024)
* ] (1931–2016)
* ] (1932–2006)
* ] (1934–2024)
* ] (1936–2021)
* ] (1938–2018)
* ] (1938–present)
* ] (1939–2016)
* ] (1940–2023)
* ] (1941–present)
* ] (1942–present)
* ] (1943–2020)
* ] (1945–present)
* ] (1945–present)
* ] (1949–present)
* ] (1950–present)
* ] (1950–present)
* ] (1956–present)
* ] (1957–present)
* ] (1966–present)
* ] (1969–present)
{{colend}}

<gallery widths="165px" heights="200px">
File:Sigmund Freud, by Max Halberstadt (cropped).jpg|]
File:Magnus Hirschfeld 1929.jpg|]
File:Alfred Kinsey 1955.jpg|]
</gallery>


==See also== ==See also==
{{Portal|Human sexuality}}
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ]
* ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ] * ]
* ]


==References==
== External links (alphabetically)==
{{Reflist|30em}}
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*
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* Belgium
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* Belgium
*
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* at the ] with free access to:
**
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** , listing of world-wide sexology institutions
*
*
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* ] & ] for the ]]
*
**
* (Section on Sexology)


==External links==
{{sex}}
{{commons category|Sexology}}
* (archived)
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Latest revision as of 20:29, 24 December 2024

Scientific study of human sexuality For the magazine, see Sexology (magazine).

Sexual orientation
Sexual orientations
Related terms
Research
Animals
Related topics

Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term sexology does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism.

Sexologists apply tools from several academic fields, such as anthropology, biology, medicine, psychology, epidemiology, sociology, and criminology. Topics of study include sexual development (puberty), sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual relationships, sexual activities, paraphilias, and atypical sexual interests. It also includes the study of sexuality across the lifespan, including child sexuality, puberty, adolescent sexuality, and sexuality among the elderly. Sexology also spans sexuality among those with mental or physical disabilities. The sexological study of sexual dysfunctions and disorders, including erectile dysfunction and anorgasmia, are also mainstays.

History

Early

Sex manuals have existed since antiquity, such as Ovid's Ars Amatoria, the Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana, the Ananga Ranga, and The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation. De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris (Prostitution in the City of Paris), an early 1830s study on 3,558 registered prostitutes in Paris, 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. In England, James Graham was an early sexologist who lectured on topics such as the process of sex and conception.

The scientific study of sexual behavior in human beings began in the 19th century with Heinrich Kaan, whose book Psychopathia Sexualis (1844) Michel Foucault 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'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

Havelock Ellis, a pioneering figure in the movement towards sexual emancipation in the late 19th century

Despite the prevailing social attitude of sexual repression in the Victorian era, the movement towards sexual emancipation began towards the end of the nineteenth century in England and Germany. In 1886, Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing published Psychopathia Sexualis. That work is considered as having established sexology as a scientific discipline.

In England, the founding father of sexology was the doctor and sexologist Havelock Ellis who challenged the sexual taboos of his era regarding masturbation and homosexuality 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), as he did not characterize it as a disease, immoral, or a crime. The work assumes that same-sex love transcended age taboos 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 and narcissism, both of which were later developed further by Sigmund Freud.

Ellis pioneered transgender phenomena alongside the German Magnus Hirschfeld. He established it as new category that was separate and distinct from homosexuality. Aware of Hirschfeld's studies of transvestism, 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, and Wilhelm Stekel. In 1913, the first academic association was founded: the Society for Sexology.

Freud developed a theory of sexuality. These stages of development include: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency and Genital. 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 and Otto Gross 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.

Hirschfeld's books were burned by the Nazis in Berlin for being "un-German".

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 disciplines, bringing Germany to the leadership of sexology. Physician Magnus Hirschfeld was an outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, founding the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights.

Hirschfeld also set up the first Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (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 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 or transgender 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. 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 included Ernst Burchard and Benedict Friedlaender. Ernst Gräfenberg, after whom the G-spot is named, published the initial research developing the intrauterine device (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 gave rise to the development of sex therapy. 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 and to educate youth about sexually transmitted infections. Alfred Kinsey founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University at Bloomington in 1947. This is now called the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. 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 developed theories on sexual identity and gender identity in the 1950s. His work, notably on the David Reimer case has since been regarded as controversial, even while the case was key to the development of treatment protocols for intersex infants and children.

Kurt Freund developed the penile plethysmograph in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s. The device was designed to provide an objective measurement of sexual arousal in males and is currently used in the assessment of pedophilia and hebephilia. This tool has since been used with sex offenders.

In 1966 and 1970, Masters and Johnson 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 was a historian of sexology during this era, as well as being a researcher in the field.

The emergence of HIV/AIDS 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 permits from the Ordre des psychologues du Québec.

Notable contributors

See also: Category:Sexologists

This is a list of sexologists and notable contributors to the field of sexology, by year of birth:

See also

References

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  21. Diamond, Milton; Sigmundson, H. Keith (March 1997). "Sex reassignment at birth: long-term review and clinical implications". Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 151 (3): 298–304. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170400084015. PMID 9080940.
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  27. Oriel, Jennifer (September 2005). "Sexual pleasure as a human right: Harmful or helpful to women in the context of HIV/AIDS?". Women's Studies International Forum. 28 (5): 392–404. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2005.05.002. Pdf.
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  29. Ferretti, A; Caulo, M; Del Gratta, C; Di Matteo, R; Merla, A; Montorsi, F; Pizzella, V; Pompa, P; Rigatti, P; Rossini, P. M.; Salonia, A; Tartaro, A; Romani, G. L. (2005). "Dynamics of male sexual arousal: Distinct components of brain activation revealed by fMRI". NeuroImage. 26 (4): 1086–96. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.03.025. PMID 15961048. S2CID 43785115.
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