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THE NATURE OF SEXUAL DESIRE
by James Giles
The Nature of Sexual Desire takes the reader on a fascinating
journey through the psychology, philosophy, and anthropology
of this most urgent of human desires. Examining both ancient
writings and modern research, both Eastern and Western thought,
the author argues that sexual desire is a continuous element
in awareness and can only be understood in terms of our experience.
The experience of sexual desire is explored and its relation
to sexual interaction, erotic pleasure, the experience of gender,
and romantic love, is skilfully unravelled. Sexual desire is
presented in a new light: an existential need that is continually
sweeping through us, pulling us on to one of life’s highest
fulfilments.
Praise for The Nature of Sexual Desire
Giles’ spiritual understanding of sexual desire and his
appreciation for the richness and exquisiteness of sexual interaction
will be refreshing for those philosophers and sex therapists
who believe that biological and physiological research dehumanize
the joys of sexual desire and satisfaction.
Felicia De la Garza-Mercer, Journal of Sex & Marital
Therapy
This readable and well-conceived book represents a lucid,
synoptic assessment of a key and central feature of our humanity.
Its approach is both comprehensive and systematic….The reader
will find here a rich and creative synthesis of both intrapsychic
and interpersonal aspects of sexual attraction, arousal, and
response.
Sanford Lopater, Professor of Psychology, Christopher Newport
University, co-author (with Ruth “Dr Ruth” Westheimer)
of Human Sexuality: A Psychosocial Perspective
A delightful examination of the way in which cross-cultural
theorists, philosophers, and psychologists have viewed the nature
of sexual desire….genuine insights into human sexuality,
gender, and the experience of love.
Elaine Hatfield, Professor of Psychology, University of Hawaii,
Past President for the Society of Scientific Study of Sex, co-author
(with Richard Rapson) of Love and Sex: Cross-Cultural Perspectives
The Nature of Sexual Desire…presents a rich and
thorough exploration of the subject matter that cuts across historical
perspectives and issues of culture. The author draws on understandings
from sexology, psychology, philosophy and anthropology and by
so doing explores all relevant perspectives.
Helen Startup, Sexual and Relationship Therapy
This book treats of the exquisite experience it studies so
faithfully in a prose so elegant and direct that it has the makings
of a classic destined to seduce generations of specialist and
non-specialist readers.
John Llewelyn, Retired Reader in Philosophy University of
Edinburgh, author of Margins of Religion
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Table of Contents
Preface
1. The
Problem of Sexual Desire
An Unsettling
State of Affairs
The Nature
of Desire
2. The
Sexual Process
The Idea
of a Sexual Process
Ellis
and the Mechanism of Detumescence
Freud
and the Pleasures of Excitation
Reich's
Orgastically Satisfying Sex Act
Masters
and Johnson's Sexual Response Cycle
The Phenomenology
of the Sexual Process
3. The
Object of Sexual Desire
Sexual
Desire and Reproduction
Erotic
Pleasure
Sexual
Activity
From Baring
and Caressing to Vulnerability and Care
The Atypical
Sexual Variations
4. The
Experience of Gender
The Primacy
of Gender
Gender
and the Genitals
The Place
of Gender in Sexual Orientation
The Twoness
of Gender in Sexual Desire
5. The
Structure of Being in Love
Being
in Love
Love as
the Desire for Vulnerability and Care
The Non-Exclusiveness
of Love
Ways of
Being in Love
Love's
Relation to Sexual Desire
6. Epilogue:
Sexual Desire as an Existential Need
References
Index |
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About the Author
James Giles was born in Vancouver, Canada. He studied
at the University of British Columbia and read for his PhD at
the University of Edinburgh. He has taught at several places
including the University of Copenhagen and the Hawaii College
of Kansai Gaidai University, Japan. He is Professor of Philosophy
at the University of Guam and Tutor at Madingley Hall, University
of Cambridge and has travelled widely through Asia and the Pacific.
Dr Giles’ work on love and sexuality has been much discussed
and presented by experts in the field, including Ruth “Dr
Ruth” Westheimer. Among his writings is No Self to be
Found: The Search for Personal Identity. |
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Order information
Now available in paperback (ISBN: 0-7618-4041-9), published
by University Press of America for $26.95 (£14.99). Order
your copy wherever books are sold.
To order by telephone in US and Canada call toll free (800)
462-6420, local (717) 794-3800. In UK, Australia,
New Zealand, Europe, and rest of world call +1 (717) 794-3800.
To order on-line, click on a logo below |
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