Sex and Reason

Sexual drives are rooted in biology but we don't act on them blindly. Indeed as the eminently readable judge and legal scholar Richard Posner shows we make quite rational choices about sex based on the costs and benefits perceived. Drawing on the fields of biology law history religion and economics this sweeping study examines societies from ancient Greece to today's Sweden and issues from masturbation incest taboos date rape and gay marriage to Baby M. The first comprehensive approach to sexuality and its social controls Posner's rational choice theory surprises explains predicts and totally absorbs. . Table of Contents: Introduction Part One: The History of Sexuality1. Theoretical Sexology The Development of the Field Social Constructionism (with a Glance at Gender Disorders) Other Threads in the Multidisciplinary Tapestry 2. Autres Temps Autres Moeurs The History of Western Sexual Mores The Sexual Mores of Non-Western Cultures 3. Sexuality and LawPart Two: A Theory of Sexuality4. The Biology of Sex The Biological Basis and Character of Normal Sex The Biology of Deviant Sex Conclusion and Critique 5. Sex and Rationality The Benefits of Sex The Costs of Sex Complementarity of Sexual Practices 6. The History of Sexuality from the Perspective of Economics Greek Love and the Institutionalization of Pederasty Monasticism Puritanism and Christian Sex Ethics Swedish Permissiveness Three Stages in the Evolution of Sexual Morality 7. Optimal Regulation of Sexuality The Model of Morally Indifferent Sex Elaborated The Externalities of Sex Incest and Revulsion The Efficacy of Sexual Regulations Designing an Optimal Punishment Scheme for Sex Crimes The Political Economy of Sexual Regulation 8. Moral Theories of Sexuality Are Moral Theories Falsifiable? Christian and Liberal Theories of Sex Sexual Radicals Part Three: The Regulation of Sexuality9. Marriage and the Channeling of Sex Restrictions on Marrying Regulating Nonmarital Sex 10. The Control of Pregnancy Contraception Abortion 11. Homosexuality: The Policy Questions The Phenomenon Reconsidered Relations between Consenting Adults: Sodomy Laws and Homosexual Marriage Discrimination against Homosexuals with Particular Reference to Military Service 12. The Sexual Revolution in the Courts From Griswold v. Connecticut to Roe v. Wade Bowers v. Hardwick and Beyond 13. Erotic Art Pornography and Nudity The Economy of Erotic Representation The Social Consequences of Pornography Deciding What-If Anything-to Punish 14. Coercive Sex Sexual Abuse of Adults Sexual Abuse of Children 15. Separating Reproduction from Sex Adoption Artificial Insemination and the Issue of Surrogate Motherhood Eugenics and Population Conclusion Acknowledgements Index . Reviews of this book: [Posner] is one of the most distinguished and prolific legal thinkers of his generation [and this is an] extraordinary book...Like [George Bernard] Shaw he combines a passion for exposing humbug and pseudo-profundity with an odd but genuine sort of social compassion a delight in shocking the self-righteous with a love of human diversity and freedom...We will remember and profit by the wit and the courage of his attacks on bigotry folly and cruelty.--Martha C. Nussbaum New Republic. Reviews of this book: An incisive tour through theories of sexuality and legal regulation of such matters as marriage pregnancy homosexuality sexual revolution in the...