Quest for Sexual Health - How an Elusive Ideal Has Transformed Science, Politics, Everyday

"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"--

About the author

Steven Epstein is professor of sociology and the John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. He is the author of several award-winning books, including Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge and Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Product details

• Authors: Professor Steven G. Epstein, Steven Epstein, Steven G. Epstein, Professor Steven G. Epstein
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.03.2022
• EAN: 9780226818221
• ISBN: 978-0-226-81822-1
• No. of pages: 400
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > General; Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Sociology, HEALTH & FITNESS / Sexuality, Society & culture: general, MEDICAL / History, Personal & public health, History of Medicine, Sociology: sexual relations, Society and culture: general, Sex and sexuality, social aspects, Personal and public health / health education, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Sexuality