Sex Is Not A Natural Act And Other Essays (Psychology, Gender, and Theory) [Paperback]

Leonore Tiefer (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Leonore Tiefer is clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City and has a private practice in sex therapy and psychotherapy in Manhattan. Recently, Dr. Tiefer has become internationally known as the primary spokesperson for a movement that challenges the medicalization of women's sexual problems by the pharmaceutical industry. Both the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and the Association for Women in Psychology selected her for their Distinguished Scientific Career Awards in 2004.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (December 5, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813316596
• ISBN-13: 978-0813316598
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,281,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leonore Tiefer, PhD, author, educator, researcher, therapist and activist is a well-known sexologist. She began with a Psychology PhD on hormones and hamsters (University of California, 1969) and an academic position and animal laboratory (Colorado State University, 1969-1977). She later respecialized in clinical psychology (New York University, 1988) with a focus on sex and gender problems. She taught at Downstate Medical Center, Beth Israel Medical Center and Montefiore Medical Center where from 1988-1996 she was in the Urology Department and co-directed the Sex and Gender Clinic . She is currently Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine.
Dr. Tiefer has published over 150 articles, often about the medicalization of men's and women's sexuality. She has been interviewed by news media around the world as the foremost critic of "disease-mongering" trends in the management of women's sexual problems. The website of her anti-medicalization campaign, http://newviewcampaign.org, is a major resource for students, journalists, scholars, and the public.
Dr. Tiefer has received awards and has been elected to offices within sexological and feminist organizations. She served on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition against Censorship (ncac.org) and the steering committee of the Shelter for Homeless Men at her New York City Unitarian Universalist Church (bjsplace.org)
Dr. Tiefer is well-known as a public speaker, having keynoted scores of conferences from London to Lausanne, Montreal to Osaka, Istanbul to Calcutta. She has given provocative grand rounds at many medical centers and spoken to countless university and college clubs, classes, and public audiences. The highlight of all this, so far, came in 2003, when she was a platform speaker at the Chautauqua Institution, speaking to an audience of over 4500, standing in the same honored spot as Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Customer Reviews

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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent steps in moving to a new discourse of sexuality., December 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sex Is Not A Natural Act And Other Essays (Psychology, Gender, and Theory) (Paperback)

Leonore Tiefer writes, "what has irritated me most about the mystification surrounding sexuality has been the persistent but peculiar idea that `sex is natural' - that is, that sex is a simple and universal biological function that, without any training, all humans should experience, enjoy, and perform in roughly the same way." Tiefer points out that just as music, full of passion, thought and rhythm, is more than fingers on a piano, sexuality, produced through human interactions and situations, is more than biology. With analogies such as this, Tiefer puts into context historical views on sexuality in order to explore contemporary sexual attitudes. By toppling the long-standing belief that sexuality is biology, Tiefer hopes to relive the anxiety around sexuality. Her essays, full of humor and on-target pop culture references, help explain many of the assumptions that hinder the struggle for reproductive freedom.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lets talk about sex..., May 30, 2005

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doc peterson (Portland, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sex Is Not A Natural Act And Other Essays (Psychology, Gender, and Theory) (Paperback)

Tiefler talks about sex with humor and compassion, revealing much about how sex is viewed in contemporary society, what our views about sex have to say about us, and perhaps most interestingly (and provocatively) provides the reader with a new interpretation of sex, as she attempts to provide it in a social and psychological context rather than a merely biological one.

The essays are not always accessable for the lay reader, as a number of Tiefler's writings are scientific in nature. However her underlying assertion that sex and our attitudes and peceptions of it are constantly changing and and having meaning attatched to it was thought - provoking. A bit dense at points, the book is a worthwhile read, as it gives one much to think about our own attitudes on sex in particular and gender in general.