The Social Organization of Sexuality

Sexual Practices in the United States

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by Edward O. Laumann, John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael and Stuart Michaels

University of Chicago Press

Due/Published December 2000, 718 pages, paper

ISBN 0226470202

New in paper (F00)

A report on the United States' most comprehensive representative survey of sexual behavior in the general population to date, finally offers basic information about the transmission of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies, child abuse, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and much more. Conducted by a research team centered at the University of Chicago, the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS) was designed to determine not only incidence and prevalence of sexual practices, but also the social and psychological contexts in which they occur.

Based on personal interviews with a probability sample of 3,432 American women and men between the ages of 18 and 59, this study explores the extent to which sexual conduct and general attitudes toward sexuality are influenced by gender, age, marital status, and other demographic characteristics. Some of the questions the researchers address include: How do social factors such as education, race, and religion affect sexual conduct? How have American sexual patterns been changing? How do women's and men's sexual lives and attitudes differ? How is sexual behavior organized across the life course?

Other topics covered by the survey include early sexual experiences, masturbation, contraception and fertility, sexual abuse, coercion, sexual health, satisfaction, and sexual dysfunction. A wide variety of sexual practices and preferences are also explored in the questionnaire, including specific questions on homosexual desire, identity, and behavior, the appeal of various sexual practices, and their frequency and incorporation into sexual lives.

With hundreds of charts, and graphs, and tables, and a copy of the complete survey questionnaire. 

Table of Contents


List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Prologue
1: Theoretical Background
2: The Study Design
3: Sexual Practices and Profiles of Sexual Expression
4: The Social Organization of Subjective Sexual Preferences
5: The Number of Partners
6: Sexual Networks
7: Epidemiological Implications of Sexual Networks
8: Homosexuality
9: Formative Sexual Experiences
10: Sex, Health, and Happiness
11: Sexually Transmitted Infections
12: Sex and Fertility
13: Sex, Cohabitation, and Marriage
14: Normative Orientations toward Sexuality
Epilogue
Appendix A: Sampling Procedures and Data Quality
Appendix B: Comparisons of the NHSLS with Other Data Sets
Appendix C: Text of the NHSLS Questionnaire
References
Author Index
Subject Index