The Nature of Sexual Desire

Subjects:

• Psychology » Human Sexuality

Related Web Pages:

• Visit the author's website.

Reviews:

• 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.
  —Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy January-February 2007
• This book certainly presents a thoughtful, thorough and critical exploration of the subject matter. The text is not a light read, and this is mainly because so much material is drawn upon and as many questions emerge from the discussion as are answered. The questions raised, however, challenge assumptions and propel the reader to explore right to the very corners of this fascinating subject. This text should be of value to anyone interested in learning more about the human experience.
  —Sexual and Relationship Therapy February 2006
• The author supports his views and arguments with interesting examples and factual material, showing his knowledge of both Eastern and Western traditions of thought, and of such diverse sources as psychology, philosophy, anthropology, and biology.
  —Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics & Gynecology September 2005
• [T]his book is highly recommendable for undergraduate students in psychology, anthropology, philosophy, communication studies, and women's studies, and an absolute "must-read" for all graduate students and researchers interested in sexuality and close relationships.
  —Relationship Research News Spring 2005

• Endorsement From Hale Sinclare, Chair (Ret.),
  Department of Psychology
  Langara College, Vancouver: This thoroughly frank and ground-breaking work belongs in the libraries and workshops of all sex educators, therapists and church leaders--all who, in truth, may wish to raise the quality of human care and intimacy and, indeed, the spiritual consummation of sexual desire--"that peak moment 'that equals all of time'"--which I hope we all will discover in our lives.
• Endorsement From John Llewelyn,Professor,
  Retired Reader in Philosophy University of Edinburgh and Visiting Professor at the University of Memphis and Loyola University of Chicago, author of The HypoCritical Imagination: Between Kant and Levinas: The receptive awareness that belongs to the nature of sexual desire according to James Giles belongs also to his phenomenological descriptions of that desire. Responsive both to what the founder of phenomenology calls "the things themselves" and to the extensive archive of scholarship on the subject, 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.
• Endorsement From Sanford Lopater, Professor of Psychology,
  Christopher Newport University,
  author (with Ruth Westheimer) of Human Sexuality: A Psychosocial Perspective: 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. It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students in the social and behavioral sciences as well as philosophy, women's studies, and anthropology. The reader will find here a rich and creative synthesis of both intrapsychic and interpersonal aspects of sexual attraction, arousal, and response. A thoughtful selection of primary literature and important critical analysis of the methodology of human sexuality research enhance an explicitly humanistic agenda.
• Endorsement From 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: A delightful examination of the way in which cross-cultural theorists, philosophers, and psychologists have viewed the nature of sexual desire. Although James Giles is not afraid to tackle difficult theoretical questions, his discussions are lightened by a sprinkling of charming quotes and genuine insights into human sexuality, gender, and the experience of love.

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• The Problem of Sexual Desire
• An Unsettling State of Affairs
• The Nature of Desire
• 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 Phenomenonology of the Sexual Process
• 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
• 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
• 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
• Epilogue: Sexual Desire as an Existential Need
• References
• Index