Paraphilia

The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. Edited by Robert T. Francoeur and Raymond J. Noonan. New York: Continuum, 2004, 1,419 pages. Hardcover, $225.00.

Reviewed by Vern L. Bullough, Ph.D., R.N., State University of New York Distinguished Professor Emeritus, 3304 West Sierra Dr., Westlake Village, CA 91362-3542; e-mail: vbullough@adelphia.net.

The original international encyclopedia of sexuality consisted of four volumes. This well-written, updated, and more comprehensive edition is published as a single volume. It is a job well done on what could only be called an impossible task.

The encyclopedia includes the forwards by Timothy Perper and Ira Reiss that appeared in the first edition. However, there are significant changes from the first edition volumes. The current volume feels more like an encyclopedia and has far more data than the original set. Despite smaller type, this edition is more visually appealing, probably due to the efforts of Raymond Noonan, the coeditor. Articles that included tables and figures in the first edition now only have tables. The demographic and historical perspectives that precede each entry are nearly all written by Francoeur himself and this provides a consistency that was lacking in the earlier volumes.

The encyclopedia also includes an "International Directory of Sexological Association and Institutes by Regions and by Country," including information for countries not covered with entries in the encyclopedia. The index is selective and not comprehensive, but still helpful. A map of the respective country is also included in each entry. In fact, the encyclopedia could be more accurately entitled an atlas than an encyclopedia, since it is a countryby-country survey with data gathered for each of the 60 countries, or units. I say "units" because one article on outer space and one on Antarctica deal with sexuality in extreme environments and not countries per se.

The authors for each entry were asked to address 13 basic issues, each representing subsets of data. The issues included (a) basic sexological perspectives including an assessment of gender roles, status of males and females, and general concepts of sexuality and love; (b) religious, ethnic, and gender factors affecting sexuality; (c) knowledge and education about sexuality; (d) autoerotic behaviors and patterns among children, adolescents, and adults; (e) interpersonal heterosexual behaviors among children, adolescents, and adults; (f) homoerotic, homosexual, and bisexual behaviors among children, adolescents, and adults; (g) gender diversity and transgender issues; (h) significant unconventional sexual behavior (which includes coercive sex, prostitution, pornography and erotica, and paraphilia); (i) contraception, abortion, and population planning; (j) sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS); (k) sexual dysfunctions, counseling, and therapies; (1) sexuality research and advanced professional education; and (m) important ethnic, racial, and/or religious minorities. There is a list of references and suggested readings for each entry.

While some of the data, such as that on sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, abortion, and population planning, is easily available and more comprehensive in other works, much of the data pertaining to the other issues has not been assembled before. Unfortunately, there is tremendous variation in the quality of the articles, the references, and the actual data. Some country editors included numerous tables, and others did not. For the articles that appeared in the earlier edition, addenda include the new data that is available; only a handful of the original articles were rewritten. For the most part the bibliography is the same as in the earlier edition, with perhaps a few new titles added.

Also troubling is the uneven attention paid to the various countries under consideration. For example, more than 200 of the total 1,419 pages is devoted to the United States. Is the United States so much more important than the other areas of the world, particularly since all the material on the U.S. is more easily found elsewhere than that on other countries? Is it 10 or 20 times more important than Germany? There are only 16 pages (including one table) devoted to Germany, whereas Finland is covered in more than 30 pages (including several tables). Since both France and Germany have large numbers of professionals involved in sexuality research, the data presented on these countries is barely adequate. Slightly more than 30 pages are devoted to the United Kingdom. and Ireland warrants 11. Coverage of Israel involves nearly 40 pages. India 16, China 27, and Russia 20. There is a separate article on Hong Kong but not on Taiwan. Cyprus is covered by devoting two sections to it, one about Turkish Cyprus and one about Greek Cyprus.

Iran is included, although Francoeur wrote that it was the most controversial article because it was written by expatriates with whom many Iranians disagreed. In fact, disagreement is not difficult to find with many of the articles, since certain aspects of sexuality remain highly controversial and authors either ignore the controversies or pass over them. The authors of the article on Egypt. for example, tread very cautiously in discussing pornography and prostitution, while the addendum on the Egyptian raids on homosexuals was written by Francoeur himself. It seems obvious that contributors of many of the articles were conscious of the dangers that too detailed a data file might hold for them personally, and either failed to go into detail or ignored certain developments. As a result, the articles, while giving at least a minimal set of data. are very uneven.

These are obviously not minor criticisms. However, where else can one access such data'? The editors had an impossible task involving hundreds of authors and varying levels of sophistication among the many contributors. Moreover, conditions change. In the first edition of the encyclopedia, Czechs and Slovaks were treated together, whereas in this the Czech Republic is described and Slovakia is ignored. It is surprising to me that the editors could accomplish as much as they did. It is an extraordinary synthesis of data which is not easy, or perhaps impossible, to find elsewhere. When all is said and done, it is enough to conclude that there is simply nothing else like it. I recommend it most highly.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group