Sex, Love, and Health in America: Private Choices and Public Policies

In 1994, the University of Chicago Press published the landmark study The Social Organization of Sexuality, "the most important survey since the Kinsey report," according to Time magazine. Based on data collected from the National Health and Social Life Survey, this heralded book answered hundreds of questions about the state of sex in America: how widespread is extramarital sex? how do women's sexual lives differ from men's? how do social factors such as education, race, and religion affect sexual conduct? While amazingly comprehensive, this earlier volume was devoted primarily to establishing baseline statistics and information. Two authors of that study, Edward O. Laumann and Robert T. Michael, now bring together the result of deeper research into and analysis of the information presented in the 1994 volume. The result, Sex, Love, and Health in America, is a companion to The Social Organization of Sexuality and furthers our understanding of Americans' sexual practices.

Sixteen researchers have contributed essays to this collection that explore controversial topics, including teenage sexuality, sexual contact between children and adults, abortion, the role of cohabitation in the sexual satisfaction of couples, and how sexual behavior has changed in response to AIDS, as well as a widely heralded examination of circumcision, reported in the New York Times, which discusses the effects of the procedure on disease transmission and the preference for certain sexual practices. In its analysis, policy recommendations, and revelations about private practices, Sex, Love, and Health in America will, like the earlier volume, have a major role in shaping the discussion about American sexual behavior.