The quest for sexual health : how an elusive ideal has transformed science, politics, and everyday life / Steven Epstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Epstein, Steven, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sexual health.

Sexual health--Social aspects.

Sexual Health.

Medical Subjects:

Sexual Health.

Physical Description:

449 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2022.

Summary:

"Since the 1970s, health professionals, researchers, governments, advocacy groups, and commercial interests have invested in the pursuit of something called 'sexual health'. Programs were launched, organizations founded, initiatives funded, products sold-and yet, no book before this one asks: What does it mean to be sexually healthy? When did people conceive of a form of health called sexual health? And how did it become the gateway to addressing a host of social harms and the reimagining of private desires and public dreams? Offering an entryway into the distinctive worlds of sexual health, this book traverses the distance from the research and treatment domains where sexual health is assessed, measured, and improved to the "sex expos" that invite attendees to "leave their inhibitions at the door and explore today's top intimacy products" and beyond. Sexual health encompasses wildly disparate agendas and speaks to innumerable concerns-from sexual dysfunction to sexual violence, from HIV prevention to reproductive freedom, to the practicalities of sexual contact during a global pandemic. Rather than a thing apart, sexual health is intertwined with nearly every conceivable topical debate-and more of them every day. Through his wide-ranging exploration, Steven Epstein provides the critical tools needed to bring into focus the different faces of sexual health and parse the debates that swirl around it"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. 1 MAKING SEXUAL HEALTH: INVENTION, DISPERSION, AND REASSEMBLY

1. A New Definition and the Backstory: Inventing Sexual Health

2. Proliferation and Ambiguity: The Buzzwording of Sexual Health

3. New Projects of Health, Rights, and Pleasure: Recombining Sexual Health

pt. 2 OPE RATIONALIZING SEXUAL HEALTH: ENABLING SCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND HEALTH CARE

4. Sexuality in the Medical Encounter: Standardizing Sexual Health

5. Diagnostic Reform and Human Rights in the ICD: Classifying Sexual Health

6. Surveys and the Quantification of Normality: Enumerating Sexual Health

7. The New Sexual Health Experts: Evaluating Sexual Health

pt. 3 UNDER THE SIGN OF SEXUAL HEALTH: BEYOND THE WORLDS OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE

8. The Pursuit of Wellness: Optimizing Sexual Health

9. Social Risks, Rights, and Duties: Governing via Sexual Health

10. Bridges to the Future: Repoliticizing Sexual Health.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780226818146

0226818144

9780226818221

0226818225

OCLC:

1263248790

Publisher Number:

99992999762