Sex, Love, and Health in America: Private Choices and Public Policies

Sex, Love, and Health in America: Private Choices and Public Policies

University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637-2954. 535p., bibliog., index. ISBN 0-226-46967-0.
edited by Edward O. Laumann, Robert T. Michael. 2001.

This is the third book to be based on the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS). The previous two books were The Social Organization of Sexuality and Sex in America. The first was a detailed account of procedures and findings and the second highlighted the most important findings of interest to the general public. The present book contains 13 essays based on further analysis of the NHSLS data. A few of the essays may be familiar as they are revisions of articles published in diverse professional journals but the rest have never been published. The NHSLS "is a nationally representative probability sample of 1,511 men and 1,921 women between the ages of eighteen and fifty-nine living in households throughout the United States." The objective in undertaking this project was "to use social scientific methods and tools to help provide a better understanding of the motivations and consequences of adult sexual behavior and attitudes, thereby improving private decisions and public policy as regards sexual behavior, especially decisions affecting health policy as it is related to sexually transmitted diseases."

The thirteen essays cover a wide variety of social issues: "Teenage Sex and the Sexual Revolution," "Choices Leading to Teenage Births," "Sexual Expression in America," "Sexual Contact between Children and Adults: A Life-Course Perspective," "Race, Gender, and Class in Sexual Scripts," "Emotional and Physical Satisfaction with Sex in Married, Cohabiting, and Dating Sexual Unions: Do Men and Women Differ," "Circumcision in the United States: Prevalence, Prophylactic Effects, and Sexual Practice," "Reported Changes in Sexual Behavior in Response to AIDS in the United States," "Racial/Ethnic Group Differences in the Prevalence of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the United States: A Network Explanation," "Sexual Dysfunction in the United States: Prevalence and Predictors," "Abortion Decisions in the United States," "Private Sexual Behavior, Public Opinion, and Public Health Policy Related to Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A U.S.-British Comparison," and "Private Sex and Public Policy."

This is an extremely well written and documented book that is readable by any educated individual. The authors end the book with the question: "Does it really matter that our knowledge about sexual behavior is so limited." We seem to know how to have babies, increase the population, and have a pretty good sex life. However, the sexual choices that we make have impacted societies the world over with viral diseases, AIDS, unwanted children, teenage childbearing, welfare dependence, funding of abortion, promotion of birth control, rape, sexual harassment, pornography, nudity, and infidelity behavior. "Better information may not solve these complex problems, but information can improve the sexual choices that we make both privately and collectively." This is a recommended book for all academic libraries.

Keywords: Sex Customs; Sexual Behavior Surveys)
010510
BK011070

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