Sex permeates our society. The Internet, newspapers, television (especially day-time talk shows), music lyrics, and magazines—all reflect our culture’s almost obsessive fascination with sex. It is easy to feel inundated. Scientific surveys and reports on sexual attitudes and practices; messages about sexual health and safer sex; marketing campaigns for birth control methods, pregnancy tests, ovulation kits, and HIV tests; reports of sex crimes in the daily news; and pornography in all media—these are only a few of countless “resources” on sexuality. All are readily available to us in the privacy of our homes just by clicking a computer mouse, opening a newspaper or magazine, or switching on the television. It is frequently difficult to make sense of it all. Our goal in writing this text was to offer information that is both accurate and edifying, all within a manageable, 15-chapter format.

Our Goals
This book has four main objectives:

• To provide information in a user-friendly, “friendly advisor” format to enhance students’ interest and learning. The stance of our book is proactive; we emphasize prevention and treatment to promote and preserve sexual health.
  
  
• To provide a briefer text that not only covers the most important and pressing topics in human sexuality but also can be completely covered in one academic term.
  
  
• To provide information on the most recent developments and findings. Our clinical, research, and teaching experiences, as well as our determination to stay abreast of the literature in human sexuality, enable us to provide the most current information that is available on each topic we cover.
  
  
• To offer an integrated view of the physiological, psychological, social, and cultural factors that affect human sexuality. Because sexuality is as influenced by psychosocial and cultural factors as it is by biological makeup, these factors are given equal treatment throughout the book where appropriate.
  

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