Sexual Deviation, edited by Ismond Rosen, M.D.,  Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York, Second edition, 1979  556 pages.

Sexual Deviation includes among its topics homosexuality as well as the less disputed sexual aberrations. It consists of 13 chapters by 14 authors. Seven of the authors are British, five are American, and one is French. The chapters are individual treatments, and while there are some cross-references, each essentially stands alone.

The first chapter by Anthony Wakeling, entitled, “A General Psychiatric Approach to Sexual Deviation,” gives a well-balanced overview of the clinical territory. Its summary of etiological studies on homosexuality, and its treatment, are especially good. It is a bit marred by continuing to pass on, as others do in the book, the Money-Hampson thesis that sex assignment and rearing can determine a gender role that is opposite to that indicated by chromosomes and hormones.

The next nine chapters deal with the various syndromes of sex deviance along orthodox psychoanalytic lines. The editor, Ismond Rosen, contributes three chapters, one on the psychoanalytic theory of perversion, another on perversion as a regulator of self-esteem, and a third on exhibitionism, scopophilia and voyeurism. The latter includes a detailed report on the results of treatment with group therapy. Phyllis Greenacre contributes a chapter on fetishism. The chapter by Robert Stoller, “The gender disorders,” deals mainly with transsexualism and transvestism. There follows a chapter by Adam Limentali in which he divides homosexuality into three groups: one in which homosexuality serves the purpose of suppressing heterosexuality, another in which homosexuality acts as a defense against other psychologic threats to the personality, such as psychosis, and a third, a so-called active bisexual group. This reviewer was not impressed with this division; the data is scant. Joyce McDougall and Charles Socarides follow with chapters on male and female homosexuality, respectively. Marvin Glasser then deals with the role of aggression in the perversions.

The above nine chapters are rich i