Volume
45 - Issue 2
Nancy Coiro, B.A., Editor
Inside
this issue...
|
Society Announcements |
Opportunity Alert |
Society
Announcements
Condolences
The SSSS community extends its
sincerest condolences to member Linda Alperstein on the loss of her daughter, Susan. Susan
died Monday, April 12, of an apparent cardiac arrest, in her home in Healdsburg,
California. To express your condolences to Linda, please access her address in
the Membership Directory. She may be contacted at her listed address.
Membership Directory Now Available
Online!
One of the benefits of
membership in SSSS is access to the Membership Directory. Previously, the
directory was mailed to members annually. For the first time, the directory is
available online to all current members. To obtain your password to access the
directory, send an email request to Dave Fleming at thesociety@inetmail.att.net
SSSS Seeks Nominations for Awards
Distinguished Scientific Achievement
Award
This award was developed to honor a professional for outstanding scientific
contributions to the field of sexology, including such activities as
educational programs, publishing research or developing new medical practices.
The award honors those whose careers reflect a continuing contribution to
sexual science. Nominees do not need to be members of The Society. To nominate
an individual, send the nominee's CV and a paragraph explaining
why they should receive the award to the Awards Committee Chair, Stephanie
Sanders.
Distinguished Service to the Society
Award
This award is presented to a member of The Society for outstanding and
extensive service to The Society. Examples of such service include extensive
participation on committees, the holding of positions or offices, and the
developing of new local regions or chapters. Two letters of nomination are
required by the Committee Chair.
Public Service Award
The Public Service Award is presented to individuals whose service has had a
major impact on The Society in general. Such service includes: outstanding
achievement or major impact in such arenas as public awareness of sexual
issues, political advocacy, professional practice by educators, therapists or
health specialists or public policy formation. Two letters of nomination by
members of The Society should be sent to:
Stephanie Sanders, PhD, Awards Nomination
Chair
c/o SSSS
PO BOX 416
Allentown, PA 18105
From the President
Dear SSSS members:
During the past several months there has
been a great deal of activity in the Society and among members and staff. Below
are several highlights and news items:
Executive Director David Fleming has taken
an active role in representing the Society in coalitions aimed at promoting
sexual health and behavior research. Such participation is essential to
providing a scientific foundation for sound intervention and public health
prevention programs. Notably, the Society is maintaining a strong presence and
voice in regularly scheduled meetings of the Coalition to Protect Research.
On March 5, 2004, Janet Hyde and John
Bancroft were distinguished scientists at a Congressional Briefing at the
Capitol. The highly successful and visible program was entitled Lost in
Translation: Public Health Implications of Sexual Health Research. The panel members highlighted the public
health implications of sexual health research.
During the recent annual meeting of the
International Academy of Sex Research, I visited the Kinsey Institute museum
and viewed the Society archives with the Kinsey librarian. The following month,
David Fleming visited the library to discuss in detail the growing archival
collection of historical SSSS documents, which is being expanded and
maintained. Members of the Society are encouraged to visit the museum.
The Society is finishing its annual membership
drive. If you have not renewed your membership, please do so this month. To
date we have received 63 new member applications. Recruiting new members is
everyone’s business. In order to remain a vibrant organization all members are
encouraged to invite their colleagues to join SSSS. Many of you will be pleased
to hear that the Membership Directory has been created on-line. After it has been finalized, it will be available for
member use only on our website.
Please be encouraged to nominate fellow
colleagues for SSSS awards. Descriptions of the various awards are on our web
site, published in the Member Directory, and in Sexual Science. Nominations
should be sent to Stephanie Sanders c/o SSSS, P.O. Box 416 Allentown, PA 18105.
All members will be receiving a copy of The
Annual Review of Sex Research for the first time this year as part of regular
membership dues.
Former SSSS president, Richard Keeling, will
be facilitating a workshop on SSSS Long Term Planning in Madison, WI, prior to
the June Board of Directors meeting. Participants will represent all the
Regions and sexual science issues of the membership. Please submit your discussion items to the national office at thesociety@inetmail.att.net
We had a record number of students—over
100—who participated in our Annual Meeting in San Antonio. As you all know, we highly value student
participation at all levels of our Society. The Student Involvement Committee
is working on another successful student turnout for the 2004 Annual Meeting in
Orlando.
The San Antonio meeting netted approximately
$13,000. Congratulations to all who worked so hard to make this event a great
success!
Mark your calendars now for the 46th
Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, November 4 7 2004! The Annual Meeting is
shaping up well under the guidance of Program co-chairs Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale
and Rafael Mazin. Over 100 abstracts have been received, promising an
outstanding program. Sharon McNeeley continues to add high quality to our
annual meetings and she will outdo herself in Orlando.
Plenary speakers include Alan Leshner, CEO
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and Editor of Science, and Mitchell Katine, lead
attorney in the 2003 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that removed all
sodomy laws throughout the United States. There will be two international
plenary panels. One panel will feature Canadian researchers in the area of
public policy and the health and well being of sex workers. The other panel
will be comprised of dignitaries from Latin American countries dealing with
issues in the promotion of sexual health. Don’t miss this opportunity to
interact and network with leading sexuality researchers.
Andrew Mattison, PhD
President, Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (2003-2004)
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego
School of Medicine
Briefly Noted
Sexuality
in the News
Organizations Call for Return to
Scientifically Based Governmental Policies
(Reprinted from www.ashastd.org)
Washington, DC
…Three leading national public health organizations the National Coalition of
STD Directors (NCSD), the American Social Health Association (ASHA), and the
National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA)
renewed their call for sexual health policy to be driven by science instead of
politics.
NCSD, ASHA, and
NFPRHA issued the call for science-based sexual health policy in response to
today’s (3/11/04) hearing on human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer by
the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and
Human Resources. HPV is a highly prevalent sexually transmitted infection
that in most instances is asymptomatic and transient. In some cases
certain strains of HPV can lead to cervical cancer. Available scientific
evidence suggests that the effectiveness of condoms in preventing HPV is
unknown. However, condom use has been associated with lower rates of
HPV-associated diseases, including cervical cancer.
“There are some
who argue that because condoms are not 100% effective in preventing all
sexually transmitted diseases, public health professionals should not encourage
their use,” said Theresa Raphael, Executive Director of NCSD. “This is
the wrong message. For those that are sexually active, condoms are the
best way to reduce the risk of contracting a host of sexually transmitted
diseases, including HIV. Scaring sexually active individuals away from
using condoms will not reduce the prevalence of HPV. Instead it will put
millions of Americans at risk of contracting a range of preventable STDs.”
According to a
January CDC report, the best way to prevent HPV infection is to refrain from
all genital contact with another individual. The report also states that
the current scientific evidence is not sufficient to recommend condoms as a
primary prevention strategy for the prevention of HPV. The report also
notes, however, that there is evidence that condom use may actually reduce the
risk of cervical cancer itself. Possible explanations for the protective
effect of condoms against cancer may be that condom use reduces the quantity of
HPV transmitted, the likelihood of re-exposure to HPV, or the exposure to a
co-factor for cervical cancer, such as chlamydia or genital herpes.
“Cervical cancer
is preventable, treatable, and curable,” said James R. Allen, MD, MPH,
President and CEO of ASHA. “Since the invention of the Pap test, cervical
cancer incidence has dropped by nearly 75%. If we want to beat cervical
cancer, we must focus on making sure all women have access to cervical cancer
screening and follow-up care instead of turning cervical cancer into an excuse
to disparage condoms.”
Undermining public
confidence in condoms jeopardizes public health. A new study presented at
the National STD Prevention Conference shows that of 12,000 adolescents that
took virginity pledges, nearly 9 out of 10
had sex before marriage. More importantly, the study shows that even
though adolescents who took virginity pledges tended to have fewer sexual
partners than those who did not vow to remain abstinent, both groups had nearly
the same rate of STDs. Researchers found that this was due in part to the
“pledgers’” failure to use condoms once they did become sexually active.
“What this proves
is what we have known for some time that adolescents need to be encouraged to
remain abstinent, but they also need to know how to protect themselves when
they do eventually have sex,” said NFPRHA President and CEO Judith M.
DeSarno. “These messages are not mutually exclusive. If we want to
protect young people, we need to prepare them by giving them the facts about
contraception and STD prevention. Withholding information or providing
biased information that reflects a given moral or political agenda does not
allow young people to make informed choices.”
(Excerpted from the New England Journal of
Medicine, April 8, 2004.)
In a recent editorial in the New England
Journal of Medicine, editors Jeffrey M. Drazen, M.D., Michael F. Greene, M.D.,
and Alastair J.J. Wood, M.D. questioned whether the decision to postpone the
approval of Plan B emergency contraception as an over-the-counter medication
was politically motivated. According to the editorial, “The data
overwhelmingly demonstrate that emergency contraception is safe and
effective when available without a prescription. Moreover, the
evidence shows that the availability of emergency contraception does
not result in a change in the usual behavior or contraceptive
practices of the women who are its potential users. A treatment for
any other condition, from hangnail to headache to heart disease,
with a similar record of safety and efficacy would be approved
quickly. Why has the FDA adopted its own plan B with respect to
approval for over-the-counter use, instead of going ahead with the
recommended approval?” (New England Journal of Medicine, April 8, 2004) The
editorial can be viewed in its entirety at http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/350/15/1561?ijkey=2yT1h370t4TsY&keytype=ref&siteid=nejm%20
Sexual
Science Mentor: Dr. Kurt Freund
By Michael Kuban, M.Ed., M.Sc.
Manager, Kurt Freund Laboratory
Clinical Sexology
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
One
morning almost a decade ago, I approached my elderly boss and inquired, “I’ve
been curious, Dr. Freund. How is it
you’ve sustained a 50-year marriage with your wife? What is your secret?”
Without pause, he leaned forward with a grin and whispered, “It was easy, Mike. I was always attracted
to her.”
Today, I realize this answer was most
fitting, having come from a man whose eight-decade life was devoted to the
scientific study of attraction and sexual arousal. As many are aware, Dr. Kurt Freund was a landmark figure in the
world of Sexology; his life’s work was groundbreaking. And as his answer clearly reflects, he was firmly
convinced of the importance of sexual attraction in influencing behavior, and
ultimately in our happiness or unhappiness. However, Kurt Freund was known best
for his pioneering development of the penile plethysmograph (PPG), a method for
assessing sexual interest among men. In
fact, today, almost 50 years after the advent of PPG, or phallometry, hundreds
of laboratories across the world routinely employ phallometric procedures, and
few people experienced in the field are unaware of Dr. Freund’s 40-year
contribution in defining phallometry.
I worked with Dr. Kurt Freund for six years,
in a very busy sexology clinic devoted to sexual arousal assessment. My introduction had unexpected beginnings; a
summer job posting led me to the Behavioural Sexology Department of the Clarke
Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Freund, along with his spry, similarly aged secretary (late 70s a
very odd couple as the institute’s paradigm of sexology), and Lab Coordinator,
introduced me to my position, which was to learn phallometric assessment. Eventually, I was to take on running the
laboratories. On a daily basis we saw a
variety of medical and legal patients presenting to the clinic due to their
problems. Most had committed criminal
offenses against children or women, but others were identified as having a
sexual disorder -- transvestism, masochism, fetishism, exhibitionism, or
similar such concern. Daunting as it
was, from the very first day I knew this was a very special department.
I soon learned of Dr. Freund’s
groundbreaking influence in the field -- work that helped make sexual arousal a
subject for serious scientific inquiry.
He had an enormous history, inspiring, yet wrought with serious
hardships. He was born into an
educated, liberal, German-speaking Jewish family on January 17, 1914, in
Chudrim, Czechoslovakia. He received his M.D. at Charles University in Prague,
and later a D.Sc. degree there in 1962.
Tragically, his personal and professional lives were disrupted by the
Second World War, during which most of his family was killed in the
Holocaust. Then, during the Communist
takeover of Czechoslovakia, he fled the country to Germany, leaving his
belongings behind, before moving to Canada in 1968. He was appointed head of the department of Social Pathology at
the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (currently The Centre for Addiction and
Mental Health).
In the 1950s, when the medical world viewed
homosexuality as an experientially acquired neurosis, Dr. Freund began working
with homosexual men, either arrested for illicit sexual activity, or just
wishing to become heterosexual and marry.
He was one of the first scientist-practitioners, if not the first, to
become convinced that homosexuality was not caused by early childhood
experiences, nor was it a pathological illness in need of treatment. He believed it was likely a result of
prenatal biological factors contributing to a man’s sexual development --
thoughts that reflect a contemporary understanding of the phenomenon. Indeed, his thinking was decades ahead. By the end of the 1950s his professional
influence successfully helped to decriminalize homosexual behavior in
Czechoslovakia (1961). Later, his influence in the international community
played into the equation that led the American Psychiatric Association to take
homosexuality off the list of psychiatric disorders in 1973.
His work with the phallometric test, his
greatest accomplishment, dates back to papers from 1957. Unlike the more modern mercury strain or
stretch gauges, Dr. Freund’s phallometric apparatus consisted of a glass
cylinder and small air cuff that sealed the penis in the cylinder. Small changes in penile size were measurable
by the air displaced from the cylinder, a method which today is still employed
in our lab, and which is superior in sensitivity than other devices. His earliest work easily differentiated
homo- from heterosexual men (which he was doing to help identify straight men
falsely claiming homosexuality in order to exempt themselves from military
service), and his objective measures showed that, contrary to psychoanalytic
belief at the time, there was no true “aversion” to female genitalia among
homosexual men. Rather, there was
simply a mere absence of any true erotic interest in females.
From this beginning, Dr. Freund quickly
began using his method for assessing true sexual offenders. With a reasonable accuracy he was able to
identify pedophiles, whose primary attractions were towards the immature body
physique, and not that of an adult.
This condition he also viewed as essentially immutable. And, while always mindful of the victims of
sexual offenses, Dr. Freund was aware that there was some sort of abnormality
in a man who victimized children. In
the1960s he worked to objectively define the subtypes of child molesters in
order to help devise a means of prevention, as well as to help the offenders
themselves, who often lead tortured lives.
Recent research has amply validated his focus on phallometrically measured
sexual arousal, showing that phallometry is the single best predictor of
re-offenses among child molesters, ahead of any other personality problems,
substance abuse, or any childhood or rearing factors. Dr. Freund’s work influenced the current wave of offender
treatment programs, which generally focus on relapse prevention, while also
recognizing that one’s underlying sexual preferences for children may not
change. Frankly aware of his
helplessness in assisting men to change the direction of their sexual
interests, Dr. Freund, long before most clinicians, grasped the role of the
sexual drive in leading to a failure in self-control. He was always a strong advocate for sex drive reducing
medications for highly paraphilic men incapable of controlling their illicit
behavior, believing that both the victims and the offenders would benefit from
lowering the intensity the drive.
Though well into his fifties when he arrived
in Canada, his career flourished at our institute. By the mid-90s Dr. Freund’s
patient database had grown to over 8,000 records; his publications on
phallometric assessments were voluminous, and when I started with him he had
two laboratories in full operating capacity.
By the end of his career, he had authored over a hundred scientific publications,
and his name in leading sexology journals was referred to more frequently than
any other, including Alfred Kinsey or Masters and Johnson. Behind him was left a trail of forensic
psychiatrists highly skilled in sexological disorders.
In 1995, at the age of 81, Dr. Freund
resigned due to health reasons. He still continued working daily in his office
next to mine, until age 82, at which time he developed advanced lung
cancer. Out of what was believed to be
a compassionate desire to spare his wife from suffering his gradual decline,
Dr. Freund committed suicide.
Clearly, to those lucky enough to know him,
Dr. Freund was a model behavioral scientist, a model sexologist -- a kind
European gentleman whose intellectual and scientific integrity was matched by
his personal integrity and his compassion for his patients. My own memories are vivid. Frequently he would emerge from his office
shaking his head sadly, saying, “This poor man is so afflicted”. I was also witness to his humble and
generous spirit when he did things such as gladly handing lunch money to a
hungry stranger who wandered into his office.
And he once naively and innocently tried to hand over his own vacation
days to a junior colleague because, as it was relayed, “I don’t want them… here,
you take them”. In the 1950s, in partial
reparation for having erroneously counseled gay men into unsuccessful
marriages, he offered profound apologies and returned fees charged for their
therapy.
I began working with Dr. Freund in
1990. His influence touched me
deeply. The objectivity of the
phallometric assessments I found profound.
My fascination for the field, my desire for a scientific and rigorous
understanding of sexological issues, and my compassion for people, led me along
this path upon which I’d stumbled. I
completed a Master’s degree in Medical Science in 1997, under Dr. Howard
Barbaree, Head of the Forensic Division, and himself a renowned researcher and
Forensic Psychologist. My own research, following in Freund’s steps, outlined
the accuracy of various phallometric techniques. I then turned to a Master’s in Counseling Psychology, where I was
able to better hone my clinical expertise with patients. After six years with Dr. Freund, I moved into
the position of undertaking detailed sexological interviews with our patients,
and then of conducting phallometric evaluations. Dr. Ray Blanchard, himself a student of Freund and a highly
regarded sexologist and researcher, was appointed head of the now Clinical
Sexology Department, and picked up the Phallometric research legacy. We renamed the laboratory “The Kurt Freund
Phallometric Laboratory” in memory of Dr. Freund, and continue assessing 275
new patients annually. Our major
research includes phallometric classification studies, neuropsychological
functioning of pedophiles, and an ongoing MRI study of pedophiles.
Do you have a mentor, an unsung hero? Who
inspired you to become a sex researcher, educator or therapist? What about them
inspired you? This is your opportunity to publicly recognize that important guide
on your professional path. Tell us who they are, what they meant to you, and
how they impacted your life. If you are interested in sharing the story of your
mentor, please contact the editor at ncoiro@yahoo.com.
List Mentor as the subject heading.
Opportunity
Alert!
Upcoming Issues of Sexual Science
Sexual Science is accepting submissions for
upcoming issues. Suggested submissions may include reports of research in
progress, sexuality in the news, sexuality education, sex therapy, and legal
and ethical issues in sexuality. Regional information regarding the challenges
faced by sex researchers, educators and therapists are also welcome. Other
possible topics include international comparisons of sexuality issues and
rights, cultural acceptance of difference with applications to sexuality and
gender, gender identity, sexual orientation and cybersex. Articles will be
credited to the author and may be edited.
Please send all submissions to: ncoiro@yahoo.com
, and write Sexual Science in the subject heading.
Books
for Review in Archives of Sexual Behavior
Kenneth J. Zucker, Ph.D., editor
of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, is seeking sexual health professionals to
review books for the Archives of Sexual Behavior. If you are interested in
reviewing a book, Dr Zucker will send you a complimentary copy of the book,
along with the instructions for preparation of the review. Reviews are
typically 500-2000 words in length, depending on the book. The instructions
will advise regarding length. For a
complete listing of books available for review, contact Dr. Zucker at Ken_Zucker@camh.net
Attention Young Public Health
Professionals and/or Students
The Jay S.
Drotman Memorial Award is given to a promising young public health professional or
student, 30 years of age or less, who has demonstrated potential in the health
field (broadly defined) by challenging traditional public health policy or practice
in a creative and positive manner. Neither academic credentials nor grades will
be a factor in selecting the awardee. The Drotman Award Selection Committee
invites nominations that meet these criteria.
Recognition
and impetus will be given to the career of promising young public health
initiates through the Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award, presented annually since
1979 by the American Public Health Association. The 2004 Drotman Award
presentation will be made at the APHA Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, in
November 6-10, 2004.
The winner of the
award will receive a $500 cash award; round-trip coach airfare to the APHA
Annual Meeting in Washington, DC; a commemorative plaque; and complimentary
registration to the Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association.
A separate form
must be submitted for each nomination. Describe in 250 words or less the merits
of the nominee. Submit nominations by April 30, 2004 to American Public Health
Association, c/o Deborah Dillard, 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3710.
Nominations received after this date cannot be guaranteed consideration for the
2004 award. Nominee must be 30 years or younger on the due date of receipt of
nominations.
Upcoming National Meetings:
2004 AASECT Annual Conference
x/\SPEAKING OUT: Advocating for Sexual Rights and Sexual Health
2004 Conference Co-Chairs: Helen 'Ginger' Bush, MSW and William Finger, PhD
May 12-16, 2004 Hilton Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Sponsored by AASECT. For more information, contact: jsebastian@aasect.org
Sexual Health, Science and Deeply Held
Beliefs: A Conference
built upon former Surgeon General David Satcher's Call to Action. May 24, 2004, Washington, DC. Sponsored by Morehouse School of Medicine,
Washington, D.C. Information is available at www.SatcherCallToAction.com
SSSS Eastern and Midcontinent Regions
Conference
Is Sex Necessary? Or, Why Do You Feel The Way You Do?
June 10-13, 2004, Madison, Wisconsin.
Information is available at www.sexscience.org If you have particular continuing education
needs that are not being met through the conference offerings, please email
Sharon McNeely at mcneelys@execpc.com
SSSS 46th Annual Conference
Sexual Science and Politics: Mutual Interactions
November 4-7, 2004, Orlando, FL.
Information is available at www.sexscience.org
Upcoming International Meetings:
26th Annual Guelph Sexuality
Conference Sexual Realities: Working in a Changing Social
Context will be held June 14-16,
2004. Further information is available on the website (www.open.uoguelph.ca/sexconf) or
by email: info@open.uoguelph.ca
International Academy of Sex
Research (IASR) The Thirtieth Annual
Meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR) will be held in
Helsinki, Finland on June 16-19th.
Interested attendees may submit abstracts for posters to Lucia
O’Sullivan, Ph.D. (LFO2@columbia.edu). The conference will feature a number of
excellent plenary speakers, a range of symposia addressing new developments in
sexuality research, and a social excursion on the Baltic Sea. More information can be found on
www.iasr.org.
The 8th
International Conference of the International
Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders (IATSO), will be
in Athens, Greece, from October 6-9, 2004. The conference will include
information on paraphilias, sexual offenders, sexual violence, and sexual
abuse. The conference web address is http://www.iatsoathens.gr/
The 31st Annual Canadian Sex Research
Forum will be in Fredericton, New
Brunswick on October 7-9. 2004. Conference planning is still in process.
Women and the New Sexual Politics:
Profits vs. Pleasures will be held
July 9-10, 2005, in Montreal, Quebec, at Le Nouvel Hotel. The keynote speaker
will be Barbara Ehrenreich. The conference is sponsored by the Campaign for a
New View of Women’s Sexual Problems. Leonore Tiefer, Ph.D. is the conference
chair. The conference committee is currently being formed. More information can
be found at http://www.fsd-alert.org.
17th World Congress of Sexology The World Congress will be held July 10-15, 2005, at
the Montreal Convention Centre. Preliminary program information is available at
www.montrealsexo.com
FOCUS
ON:
The Foundation for the
Scientific Study of Sexuality (FSSS)
FSSS is a nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to supporting scientific
research related to sexuality; it is the only foundation whose sole and primary
mission is to promote funding for conducting scholarly, scientific research to
further our understanding of all aspects of sexuality. Created in 1986 by SSSS,
the Foundation has as its goal to establish a perpetual pool of funds (an
endowment) to facilitate the scholarly study of sexuality. Tax-deductible,
charitable donations to FSSS can be made to the Endowment Fund or as
unrestricted funds. Donations in forms such as royalty assignment, deferred
gifts and gifts through wills can be arranged.
Where does FSSS fit into the scheme of
things where SSSS is concerned? A recent is example is the Texas Barbeque held
at the San Antonio conference. According to Clive M. Davis, the barbeque was a
great fundraising success. Approximately $4,000 was raised to support the work
of the Foundation. Most of these funds will be directed to supporting the FSSS
“Grants-in-Aid” program in 2004. Because of the success of this event, the
maximum grant amount has been raised to $1,000 for 2004. For information about
applying for a “Grant-in-Aid,” contact the FSSS office at 317 Scott Ave.,
Syracuse, NY 13224 or e-mail Clive M. Davis at cmd@psych.syr.edu.
Wired! Sexuality Websites of Interest
Dr. Mitch Tepper founded Sexualhealth.com in
1996, to address the sexual education needs of people with disabilities. While originally designed specifically with
an emphasis on sexuality and disabilities, the site has grown to encompass
sexuality related issues in general. According to information on the site, over
50 sexual health professionals volunteer their services to answer reader
questions. Sexualhealth.com has a list
of available resources on disability and sexuality, and has web casts available
on various sexual health topics, including women’s health, men’s health and sex
and aging. Visit the site at www.sexualhealth.com
The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) is a nonprofit organization focused on sexual
and reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education. AGI
publishes Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, International
Family Planning Perspectives, The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy and
special reports on topics pertaining to sexual and reproductive health and
rights. The Institute's mission is to protect the reproductive choices of all
women and men in the United States and throughout the world. It is to support
their ability to obtain the information and services needed to achieve their
full human rights, safeguard their health and exercise their individual
responsibilities in regard to sexual behavior and relationships, reproduction
and family formation.
Link directly to their site at http://www.agi-usa.org/
REMINDER!!!!!!!!!
Deadline
for submissions for the next edition is June
18, 2004. Please send all
submissions to: ncoiro@yahoo.com Please
write Sexual Science in the subject heading.