Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Perspectives. Edited by Celia Harding.  Brunner-Routledge, 2001.

“Sex is such a natural preoccupation that it is most conspicuous in its absence.” (Harding, 2001, p. 1). So begins Celia Harding's introductory chapter to Sexuality: Psychoanalytic Perspectives published in 2001 by Brunner-Routledge. The book grew out of a lecture series for Professional Members of the Foundation for Psychotherapy and Counselling and offers a wide array of psychoanalytic views on sex and sexuality. The book opens and closes with a chapter by Celia Harding and contains eight additional chapters written by psychoanalytic practitioners and theorists from England. The distinctly English influence is apparent from the outset—among the chapters in the text is “‘No sex, please—we're British’: Sexuality in English and French psychoanalysis.” (The distinctively British flair occurs throughout. For example, in his chapter entitled “Relocating psychoanalytic ideas of sexuality,” Robert Young quips, “Wouldn't that be a lovely note on which to end?” (p. 28))

The variety and breadth of topics covered in the book is impressive. Subjects discussed throughout the text include divergent views of sexuality within psychoanalysis, childhood sexuality, the development of sexual identity, gendered aspects of sexuality, and therapeutic issues with lesbian and gay patients.

Some chapters capture the reader's attention better than others. While some chapters are written in a spry and witty manner, others require more patience on the reader's part. Furthermore, while some essays bring unique perspectives to their subject matter, others recapitulate ideas that can be found elsewhere in the analytic literature. This makes for an uneven read, intriguing at some moments and disappointing at others.

The first two chapters, “Locating and relocating psychoanalytic ideas of sexuality,” by Robert Young and “Sexuality and object relations” by Robert Royston explore how object relations' theorists revised and reinterpreted