My Sexuality Workbook

Author(s): Randi Smith

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Like eating and sleeping, sex is a natural, biologically-driven human behavior.

Yet, as with eating and sleeping, we have much to learn. Having a healthy and satisfying sex life requires more than just factual knowledge about reproduction.

Positive sexuality also requires self-knowledge: What are my sexual fears, my wishes, my challenges? What messages—from my school, my mother, my religion, my society—have I absorbed, and how do those messages affect me? What sexual decisions have I made that haven’t been entirely satisfactory, and what sexual choices do I want to make in the future?

Randyl Smith’s My Sexuality Workbook is a learning tool, designed to supplement factual textbook knowledge with self-inspection. My Sexuality Workbook ‘s activities and exercises help students bridge the gap between sexual science and their own sexual attitudes and behaviors.

Newly updated in 2019, My Sexuality Workbook

  • Encourages readers to explore their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, concerns, and wishes, enabling them to come to a greater understanding of their own sexuality.
  • Includes research excerpts, self-assessments, case studies, activities, resources, and other materials. 
  • Features a list of resources related to each topic, including widely available films, books, and Web sites that provide additional information or alternative perspectives.

My Sexuality Workbook is organized around three components of one’s sexual life:

  • Sexuality: The Personal focuses on awareness of one’s body, its responsiveness to self-touch, and its changes across the lifespan.
  • Sexuality: The Relational explores relational sexuality, from healthy, appealing behaviors like flirting and falling in love, to problematic and even dangerous experiences like sexual dysfunction and sexual coercion. 
  • Sexuality: The Cultural considers the power that religion, law, healthcare, and the media have in shaping societal sexual behavior—and how those cultural phenomena have influenced the reader’s own sexuality.

From the Author

SECTION 1: SEXUALITY: THE PERSONAL
 Chapter 1 Why Study Sexuality? Knowledge Is Pleasure
 Chapter 2 Sex Research: The Science of Sexology
 Chapter 3 My Body: How It Feels . . . and How I Feel About It
 Chapter 4 Gender: Male, Female, and Everything Else
 Chapter 5 Solitary Sex: Masturbation and Fantasy
 Chapter 6 Sexual Orientation: Straight? Gay? Bi? None of the Above?
 Chapter 7 From Birth to Death: Sexuality Across the Life Span
 Chapter 8 Reproductive Decision Making: Choices and Challenges

SECTION 2: SEXUALITY: THE RELATIONAL
 Chapter 9 Attraction: Liking, Loving, Lusting
 Chapter 10 Communication: Expressing Our Sexuality
 Chapter 11 Getting to Know You: The World of Dating
 Chapter 12 To Have and to Hold: Monogamy, Nonmonogamy, and Infidelity
 Chapter 13 Unconventional Sex: Fetishes, Kinks, and Paraphilias
 Chapter 14 Coercive Sex: Rape, Harassment, and Abuse
 Chapter 15 Keep It Up: Responding to Sex Problems
 Chapter 16 Disabilities and Capabilities: Sex and Physical Impairment

SECTION 3: SEXUALITY: THE CULTURAL
 Chapter 17 The Sacred and the Sensual: Religion, Spirituality, and Sexuality
 Chapter 18 Around the World: Cultural Differences in Sexual Expression
 Chapter 19 Mass Messaging: Sex and the Media
 Chapter 20 Sex for Sale: Commercialization of the Erotic
 Chapter 21 Altered States: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex
 Chapter 22 A Healthy Interest: Avoiding STIs
 Chapter 23 Sex Positivity: Affirming Our Sexual Selves

Randi Smith

Like eating and sleeping, sex is a natural, biologically-driven human behavior.

Yet, as with eating and sleeping, we have much to learn. Having a healthy and satisfying sex life requires more than just factual knowledge about reproduction.

Positive sexuality also requires self-knowledge: What are my sexual fears, my wishes, my challenges? What messages—from my school, my mother, my religion, my society—have I absorbed, and how do those messages affect me? What sexual decisions have I made that haven’t been entirely satisfactory, and what sexual choices do I want to make in the future?

Randyl Smith’s My Sexuality Workbook is a learning tool, designed to supplement factual textbook knowledge with self-inspection. My Sexuality Workbook ‘s activities and exercises help students bridge the gap between sexual science and their own sexual attitudes and behaviors.

Newly updated in 2019, My Sexuality Workbook

  • Encourages readers to explore their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, concerns, and wishes, enabling them to come to a greater understanding of their own sexuality.
  • Includes research excerpts, self-assessments, case studies, activities, resources, and other materials. 
  • Features a list of resources related to each topic, including widely available films, books, and Web sites that provide additional information or alternative perspectives.

My Sexuality Workbook is organized around three components of one’s sexual life:

  • Sexuality: The Personal focuses on awareness of one’s body, its responsiveness to self-touch, and its changes across the lifespan.
  • Sexuality: The Relational explores relational sexuality, from healthy, appealing behaviors like flirting and falling in love, to problematic and even dangerous experiences like sexual dysfunction and sexual coercion. 
  • Sexuality: The Cultural considers the power that religion, law, healthcare, and the media have in shaping societal sexual behavior—and how those cultural phenomena have influenced the reader’s own sexuality.

From the Author

SECTION 1: SEXUALITY: THE PERSONAL
 Chapter 1 Why Study Sexuality? Knowledge Is Pleasure
 Chapter 2 Sex Research: The Science of Sexology
 Chapter 3 My Body: How It Feels . . . and How I Feel About It
 Chapter 4 Gender: Male, Female, and Everything Else
 Chapter 5 Solitary Sex: Masturbation and Fantasy
 Chapter 6 Sexual Orientation: Straight? Gay? Bi? None of the Above?
 Chapter 7 From Birth to Death: Sexuality Across the Life Span
 Chapter 8 Reproductive Decision Making: Choices and Challenges

SECTION 2: SEXUALITY: THE RELATIONAL
 Chapter 9 Attraction: Liking, Loving, Lusting
 Chapter 10 Communication: Expressing Our Sexuality
 Chapter 11 Getting to Know You: The World of Dating
 Chapter 12 To Have and to Hold: Monogamy, Nonmonogamy, and Infidelity
 Chapter 13 Unconventional Sex: Fetishes, Kinks, and Paraphilias
 Chapter 14 Coercive Sex: Rape, Harassment, and Abuse
 Chapter 15 Keep It Up: Responding to Sex Problems
 Chapter 16 Disabilities and Capabilities: Sex and Physical Impairment

SECTION 3: SEXUALITY: THE CULTURAL
 Chapter 17 The Sacred and the Sensual: Religion, Spirituality, and Sexuality
 Chapter 18 Around the World: Cultural Differences in Sexual Expression
 Chapter 19 Mass Messaging: Sex and the Media
 Chapter 20 Sex for Sale: Commercialization of the Erotic
 Chapter 21 Altered States: Alcohol, Drugs, and Sex
 Chapter 22 A Healthy Interest: Avoiding STIs
 Chapter 23 Sex Positivity: Affirming Our Sexual Selves

Randi Smith