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This book originated from a postgraduate course intended to bring together authoritative views of 'sexual life that clinical experience had shown to be frequently problematical' and of special value to the practice of the nonpsychiatrically trained physician. Of the eighteen contributors, five are psychoanalysts, nine are psychiatrists; the others are a gynecologist, a urologist, a psychologist, and a medical educator.
Among the papers three deal with problems in taking a sexual history; two with sexual problems masked by other medical complaints; two with the nature and management of full-blown sexual perversions, e.g., homosexuality and fetishism. Most timely and valuable is Ralph R. Greenson's Masculinity and Femininity in Our Time, which gives an over-all view of sexual behavior together with the numerous cultural factors making for alterations in these concepts and the external pressures affecting satisfaction in sexual life. He sets the proper context in which the general practitioner as well as psychoanalysts and psychiatrists should look at sexual problems which confront him in clinical practice. He states:
Our ignorance and prejudice about masculinity and feminity have led to many injustices, hardships, and waste. It is our task to learn more about this and related problems. We must broaden our range as to what we consider to be male and female attributes. Further, we should permit and encourage our patients to develop their entire personalities and not stultify certain valuable traits because they do not conform to old-fashioned and rigid standards of gender behavior. This will only be possible when we can recognize and overcome some of the unconscious hatred and fear that exists between the sexes. If we succeed, then we will be able to enjoy the exciting differences between men and women without contempt or envy, but with gratitude.
Arieti's paper, Sexual Conflict in Psychotic Disorders, summarizes sexual conflicts common to individuals with psychot