Description
R ECENT research findings in psychology and sociology demonstrate clearly that those individuals with the most extensive and accurate information about their own sexual- ity have fewer emotional and mental problems and make a better overall adjustment to life than those with less adequate information in the sexual sphere. The purpose of this book is to present to the reader physiological and psychological information relating to all phases of human sexual behavior in as com- plete, direct, and factual a manner as possible.
This rather ambitious aim is introduced by a discussion of the need for a better sex edu- cation than most of us have known. There then follow sections dealing with the physio- logical development and differentiation of the male and female genitalia, the endocrine sys- tem as related to sexual functioning, the re- productory systems, fertilization, prenatal development, and parturition. Next is a frank and detailed discussion of the types and methods of birth control, sexual stimulation, coital positioning, and orgasmic response-all topics which the author considers especially essential to a book of this nature. These chap- ters will be useful, either as a source of dispassionate information or as an actual marriage manual, to a wide variety of people -doctors, clergymen, marriage counselors, teachers and students, and to all those who are married or are contemplating marriage.
The psychological aspects of the subject of human sexuality are dealt with in chapters on attitudes and behavior and on sexual myths and fallacies-the latter being a compilation of the questions most frequently posed (anonymously and in writing) by more than 7500 students whom the author has taught in a course on marriage and the family. The medical and specific therapeutic aspects of the subject are covered in the sections of the book detailing sexual diseases and disorders, aphro- disiacs and anaphrodisiacs, and sexual aber- rations. Dr. McCary has tried to include all pertinent information, while trying to avoid that which is prurient and simply morbid. The concluding chapter, Sex and the Law, sketches human sexuality in its legal context in present-day American society.
