1st Edition
Sexual Images of the Self the Psychology of Erotic Sensations and Illusions
This volume documents how sexual practices and fictions infiltrate and are influenced by a person's feelings about the self and the body. Using paradigms derived from self and body image theory, Fisher combines research from the past several decades dealing with sexual behavior to test major theories concerning diverse sexual phenomena. The book integrates, within a broad conceptual scheme, research findings concerning major aspects of sexual behavior such as the development of sexual competence, orgasm consistence, clitoral versus vaginal preference, and homosexuality.
Biography
Seymour Fisher
"In the current volume, Sexual Images of the Self: The Psychology of Erotic Sensations and Illusions, Fisher, as he has so often done in previous work, has produced a treatise of superior scholarship that also covers the topic in a comprehensive fashion....this work reviews the topic with admirable thoroughness....Fisher does an outstanding job of integrating historical ideas, current concepts, and their empirical underpinnings throughout the book, so that the reader comes away with a clear idea about where thinking has been on the topics of focus, and where it may be headed....It represents a most scholarly and carefully compiled treatise on the dynamic interaction between psychosexual and anatomical representations of self, and the influence they may have on broader aspects of sexual functioning. The reader will come away considerably better informed and highly stimulated concerning this most interesting aspect of human sexuality."
—Archives of Sexual Behavior"...the research is truly interesting and provocative....I found this book to be a convincing argument that body image is probably not a concept of sufficient power around which to organize an understanding (or prediction) of human sexual behavior....It's clear from the profusely documented text that the author spent alot of time doing his homework and enjoyed the intellectual rigor....this book is worth reading if only for bringing together a vast amount of research in an interesting way. More important, the in-depth research summaries enable the reader to draw his or her own conclusions. The book's copious text notes contain some extremely interesting facts and commentary....It is, however, a valuable work for readers particularly interested in the ramifications of body image and for sexual health care professionals looking for conceptual stimulation."
—Journal of Sex Education & Therapy" ... with this work, he [Fisher] displays a grasp of the wide- ranging human sexuality literature; and his clear writing style allows the nonspecialist to explore his thesis, which many readers will find inherently interesting. Recommended for larger academic libraries."
—CHOICE
