The Sex Researchers
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Edward M. Brecher's The Sex Researchers is a survey history of research on human sexuality from the end of the nineteenth century through the late 1970s. As Brecher demonstrates, the history of sex research has followed a broad curve, starting with simply acknowledging the legitimacy of investigating the subject and moving on to the recognition that sex presents various problematic aspects for individuals, that there is a wide range of inter- and intra-cultural variation in behavior, and that it is possible to treat sexual dysfunction. The earlier chapters concentrate on the five major figures whose work led the way: Havelock Ellis, Krafft-Ebbing, Freud, van de Velde, and Kinsey. Subsequent chapters feature a more topical approach--indicative of the expansion of research--and cover women's sexuality, variations on heterosexuality, the experience of love, and the discarding of inhibitions. The last chapter summarizes the work of Masters and Johnson in the area of treatment of sexual dysfunction, and Brecher adds epilogues on the future of sex research. Brecher is clearly well-intentioned and his book may be of some service to general readers. But the lack of context, his relatively uncritical approach, and the very limited view he takes of some of his subjects make the book less than worthwhile as anything but a very basic introduction. The author's approach is informal and he includes a great deal of first-person material such as accounts of his own, and his wife's,
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findings by James R. Smith and Lynn G. Smith regarding the casting off of repressions, inhibitions, and taboos by "swingers," noting that many of the Smiths' swinging subjects "were subjected during childhood to the same repressive upbringing as the rest of us [and] the homes in which they were reared might be properly described as late Victorian, in spirit if not in chronology" (258). But if the term Victorian is not defined, what can it mean when he begins to qualify it as 'late' Victorianism, and characterize it as achronological, while assuming all the while that the reader will understand precisely what he means or, for that matter, share his undefined background. Thus, if one wishes to get at the core question of how and why 1970s "swingers" overcame their psychological and emotional constraints Brecher, who wants the subject taken seriously, is little help.
The problem is that Brecher makes assumptions of this sort in place of providing a valid, convincing context. This has a serious impact on some of his accounts. The inclusion of Freud in his survey, for example, would almost seem to be essential. But his brief outline of some of Freud's thinking on psychosexual development, while adequate, does not do justice to t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1531
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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