Human Sexuality ( Second Edition ) By Simon LeVay

Breedlove (2004) reviewed the first edition of this textbook for this Journal and helpfully noted that there were over 3,200 hits for ‘‘human sexuality’’ on Amazon.com, and the best selling book was Five Minutes to Orgasm Every Time You Make Love. Now, there are over 11,500 hits, indicating a near fourfold increase in the amount of information to know (I hope we have all kept up). And, the current best seller is She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman. Wow! Goodbye rapid-onset orgasms, hello female-centered pleasure from men. Does the increase represent a dramatic swell in knowledge or in facts that are need-to-know for the public? More likely, the ever-increasing world of sex-related literature is a response to people’s curiosity about sexuality and dissatisfaction with some of the available relevant material. If so, Human Sexuality should be a welcome addition. LeVay and Valente write clearly, peppering the text with interesting facts and commentary. The inclusion of excellent visuals and examples, including fascinating boxes further exploring points of interest, makes this textbook a good choice for courses on human sexuality. The content is challenging, engaging, and accessible, and the text would certainly make an appropriate course book for use in courses from psychology, family studies, health sciences, and perhaps other fields. For lower-level courses, it could be a stand-alone text, but it would still be appropriate for upper-level courses with extra readings attached or more in-depth exploration of pertinent topics. The second edition has been updated such that one chapter (Sexual Bodies) is now presented in two (Women’s Bodies and Men’s Bodies). Additionally, the content included in the first edition chapter on Sex, Illness, and Disability is now dispersed into other chapters. LeVay and Valente note that the emphasis in the chapter on Atypical Development has changed to reflect their belief that the majority of variations in sexuality do not warrant the label of ‘‘disorder’’ or ‘‘paraphilia.’’ Also newly included and/or expanded is a discussion of problems in women’s sexual arousal and interest and related controversies. Finally, the ‘‘technical’’ sections that covered more biomedical information about sexuality have been moved to the new (and excellent) companion website. Are these factors sufficient to warrant a new edition? LeVay and Valente allude to collegial doubt, but note new sex-related happenings reported in the media seemingly to affirm the need of a revised textbook. I have not read the first edition, so I cannot comment on whether its contents were outdated enough to require an update. However, I can point out that the new edition is exceptionally current, with up-to-date examples and content that will be relevant to students and instructors. Chapter 1 (Perspectives on Sexuality) contextualizes sex research and includes a survey of both sex research and pioneers in the field. Importantly, it also helps provide a perspective for why sexuality should be a field of academic study and why knowledge about sexuality should be important and valued. Informative and interesting, this chapter provides a lively introduction that not only is readable and thoughtprovoking, but also instructive. To wit: I have always felt like a sex researcher and not a sexologist, and Chapter 1 provided a clear rationale for my core sexual academic identity. Chapter 2 (Sex and Evolution) would likely be challenging for the majority of students. Still, the chapter covers a diversity of topics, including the mainstays (e.g., parental investment, kin selection, Bateman’s gradient) with a critical engagement. However, omissions of female competition or infanticide seem particularly noticeable. I am also not convinced that ‘‘nurturing’’ and ‘‘exploitative’’ are the least valueor cultureladen terms that could have been selected to describe female S. M. van Anders (&) Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th St., Bloomington, IN 47405, USA e-mail: [email protected]