Customer Reviews

Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings

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This book has been around for a couple of decades, updated periodically to make it more contemporary. It was a required text in a course I took on "The Philosophy of Sex," and I did not like it then, and I still don't like it. Why?

Because it's obviously a textbook. It's a collection or readings about "sex," and as the word "sex" can be quite elastic, so is this book. And because of that, this book finds its way into academia. Yes, it has readings on all sorts of "sex" issues, from abortion to homosexuality to bestiality (I might be kidding), but sex to me is none of those things (okay, homosexuality is sex). But "sex" here is distinct from "sexual," and that's the rub.

If you want a textbook that examines "sex," but not the "sexual," this book may interest you, but I assure you that you will not be entertained. It's as dry as they come (pun intended). If you're interested in theories about "love" and "sexuality," then mosey over to Robert Solomon. He has several (unfortunately some of his books have different names for the same text; be careful). His wonderful book "Love" is truly extraordinary (but it appears in different incarnations).

If you've been assigned this book as a text, you have my complete and total sympathies.