Sexual Hygiene and Pathology

In this volume-a second edition of an earlier work-sex is extensively covered. It is divided into four parts: sexuality in childhood, in the second decade, in the normal adult, and sexual pathology. This organizational scheme leads to some repetition, but in general the approach is sensible and matter-of-fact. As there is no formal instruction in problems of sex in most medical school curricula, the book fulfills a useful need. Dr. Oliven is a psychiatrist on the Staff of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. To the nonpsychiatrist some of his approaches and terminology seem over-psychiatrically oriented, e.g. "longing-cumpanic-cum-guilt," "genitality may be 'use-ready,"' "normal (fantasied) instinct-developmental phase preceding latency." Also the encyclopedic nature of the work has included the use of many "-isms," as well as words which seem unnecessarily complicated, such as "storkism," "Peeping Tomism," "varietism," "triolism," "mixoscopia," "copula dimidiata," "zoostuprum," "coitus condomatus," "anhedonia-ex-frigidity." This may give the book an all-inclusive and scholarly air, but makes it less readable. Excessive time is also devoted to essentially nonexistent entities (e.g. "penis captivus"). The nonpsychiatric aspects of the book are generally factually correct. The book would be more effective, however, if it was co-authored by a gynecologist or urologist who could outline much more orderly the practical approaches to problems of dyspareunia, contraception, frigidity, extramarital pregnancy, amenorrhea, the intact hymen, etc., which are so commonly encountered in their practice. There is also an unfortunate tendency to range beliefs of 20 to 50 years ago alongside more modern concepts, as well as to include highly questionable statements, for example, that cervical stimulation results in uterine contractions which produce cervical "insuck" and that uterine "peristalsis" aids in the passage of spermatozoa, or that there is an increased incidence of emotional and sexual maladjustment in the history of women with cervical cancer. Even the most amateur of teenagers might disagree with the statement, "Necking is platonic in intent and does not usually effect sexual arousal-Both feet are kept on the ground... ." There is also a tendency to read undue psychiatric implications into such matters as extramarital intercourse, which many doctors would regard merely as an undisciplined response to a rather natural biologic urge. The text would be much more effective if the style of writing were more readable. There is a great tendency to duplicate words; e.g. "genito-infectious ('veneral') disease," "denying ('fighting') his tendencies," "adopt ('introject')," "'preventive' sheltering (institutions)," "diaphragm is inserted ('passed in')." It would be vastly improved by the removal of