Maggie's Farm

The highly-distinguished Drs. Paul McHugh and Lawrence Mayer have put together a major treatise directed towards the general public: Sexuality and Gender: Findings from the Biological, Psychological, and Social Sciences

It's a hot topic, mainly because it has been so politicized in recent years. As with the study of climate and weather, or research into some diseases and approaches to them, politicization is no friend to a pursuit of truth. When addressing data directly can be career-damaging or socially-damaging, scientists tend to be as human as everybody else.

During my career in mental health I have seen the societal normalization of things that I had been taught were perversions.  Except for pedophilia and sexual sadism (so far), former perversions tend to be viewed as normal variations. It has been fascinating to watch these societal shifts. It has also been fascinating to watch the once-simple term "gender" shift into an almost hallucinatory array of meanings. It seems to me that cultual shifts, in this case, have led medical attitudinal shifts, rather than the reverse.

Human sexuality is a sexy topic.