Perspectives on Human Sexuality

Anne Bolin · Patricia Whelehan

jul 1999 · State University of New York Press

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In a book destined to become the standard reference on human sexuality, Bolin and Whelehan provide the first ever treatment that includes both the biological aspects and the cultural influences of this basic and much examined part of life. Never before has a book offered such a broad analysis including both anthropological perspectives as well as anatomical and physiological viewpoints. Included are many photographs and illustrations, making Perspectives on Human Sexuality a much needed resource.

By offering an anthropological perspective to understanding human sexuality, how it developed over millions of years and how it is embedded in specific socio-cultural contexts, the authors present a broad-based analysis of human sexuality. Specifically, Bolin and Whelehan offer unique perspectives on modern human male and female anatomy and physiology; pregnancy and childbirth as a bio-cultural experience; various topics in adult sexuality, such as life-course issues related to gender identity; sexual orientations, behaviors, and lifestyles; and discussions of HIV and AIDS.

Using these topics the authors differentiate culture-specific sexual behavior from what we share as a species. This helps to place sexual behavior in the United States in a larger context as well as reduces the tendency to view nonwesterners as the "other" or exotic, thereby promoting a clearer understanding of the complex phenomenon labeled "human sexuality."

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Anne Bolin is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Elon College. She is the author of In Search of Eve: Transsexual Rites of Passage and editor of The Journal of Sex Research. Patricia Whelehan is Professor of Anthropology and the Campus' AIDS Education Coordinator at State University of New York at Potsdam. She is coeditor of Women and Health: Cross-Cultural Perspectives.