Speaking of Sexuality: Interdisciplinary Readings. 3^rd Edition. 2010. Nelwyn B. Moore, J Kenneth Davidson, Sr. and Terri D. Fisher, Eds. Oxford University Press, Inc. ISBN 978-0-19-538949-4.

A thorough compendium of writings on the topic of sexuality, the third edition of Speaking of Sexuality is meant to serve as a thought-provoking conversation-starter for the sexuality education classroom. The editors have gathered some of the best articles available on the topic at hand and organized them into 10 sections representing different paradigms through which to consider the vast subject of sexuality.

The sections, each beginning with a unifying introductory piece, and offering between 4 and 5 articles, some research and some opinion based, include:

Part I – a historical and theoretical overview of the topic of sexuality research, introducing the reader to the seminal work of Kinsey and Masters & Johnson and offering several theoretical lenses through which to view the topic.

Part II – selections exploring budding sexuality in childhood and adolescence, including what religious doctrine has to say about sexual development in childhood, and the long-term effects, if any, of a child's exposure the "primal scene" of parental sex.

Part III – focusing on young adulthood, seems to have an underlying theme of exploring dichotomies, for example, the sexual double standard, how one's life is changed into a "before and after" with regard to the first sexual experience, the effects of race and religious contexts on sexual risk-taking and the development of "sex substitutes"–behaviors that are sexual, but do not include intercourse.

Part IV – designed around the theme of young and middle adulthood, this section includes such topics as the effects of premarital sex and cohabitation on marital stability, how societal expectations can ruin sexual satisfaction for women at midlife, and the "medicalization" of middle aged male sexuality through healthcare advances such as Viagra.

Part V – focuses specifically on the intersection of gender roles and sexuality. Offerings include how gender, along with race and class work together to form our sexual scripts, the effect that the blending of physiology and societal expectations has on female sexual desire, and a discussion of how our own gender stereotypes might shape answers and distort findings in self-report studies.

Part VI – selections in this section have to do primarily with sexuality within the context of relationship, with a unifying theme of attachment. Close relationships of lesbians and gay men are also examined from relationship formation through power, division of labor, conflict, commitment and parenting.

Part VII – focuses on sexual orientation, with articles exploring whether its origins are genetic or environmental, the effects of parenting, Queer Theory, bisexuality and asexuality.

Part VIII – looks at the topic of sexual health, with offerings considering the detrimental effects of parental silence on the topic of sexuality, and examination of the effects of alcohol on the consistency of condom use and whether or not the medical community is more judgmental of a female with an STI diagnosis than a male.

Part IX – offers a glimpse into the darker side of sexuality, with topics such as the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and adult mental health, a look at the concept of "wantedness" and its relationship to rape acknowledgement, how men and women use sexual coercion, how the culture of migration might lead to more same-sex encounters for Hispanic men, and how cybersex touches the family.

Part X – Takes a macrosystemic view of sexuality, with articles on the industries of pornography and the sexual marketplace, an examination of how the media frames references to virginity pledges, and one author's belief that the surrounding social context should be the determining factor in whether to teach abstinence-based or comprehensive sexuality education.

Also available is a full-scale Instructor's Manual with suggestions for using the materials and evaluating the achievement of students, power point presentations and test bank.

With 48 thought-provoking articles totaling 663 pages and the wealth of material in the available Instructor's Manual, this book is a rich resource that could expand the scope of a human sexuality course and involve students to engage that most important of sexual organs – the brain.

Reviewed by Patricia S. Yancey, MS, CFLE. Patricia is an Instructor in the Department of Human Environmental Studies at Southeast Missouri State University.