This edition contains three studies which seem to me to be necessary prolegomena to that analysis of the sexual instinct which must form the chief part of an investigation into the psychology of sex. The first sketches the main outlines of a complex emotional state which is of fundamental importance in sexual psychology; the second, by bringing together evidence from widely different regions, suggests a tentative explanation of facts that are still imperfectly known; the third attempts to show that even in fields where we assume our knowledge to be adequate a broader view of the phenomena teaches us to suspend judgment and to adopt a more cautious attitude. So far as they go, these studies are complete in themselves; their special use, as an introduction to a more comprehensive analysis of sexual phenomena, is that they bring before us, under varying aspects, a characteristic which, though often ignored, is of the first importance in obtaining a clear understanding of the facts: the tendency of the sexual impulse to appear in a spontaneous and to some extent periodic manner, affecting women differently from men. This is a tendency which, later, I hope to make still more apparent, for it has practical and social, as well as psychological, implications. Here—and more especially in the study of those spontaneous solitary manifestations which I call auto-erotic—I have attempted to clear the ground, and to indicate the main lines along which the progress of our knowledge in these fields may best be attained.

Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 2 Havelock Ellis - It has been remarked by Professor Wilhelm Ostwald that the problem of homosexuality is a problem left over to us by the Middle Ages, which for five hundred years dealt with inverts as it dealt with heretics and witches. To regard the matter thus is to emphasize its social and humanitarian interest rather than its biological and psychological significance. It is no doubt this human interest of the question of inversion, rather than its scientific importance, great as the latter is, which is mainly responsible for the remarkable activity with which the study of homosexuality has been carried on during recent years.The result has been that, during the fourteen years that have passed since the last edition of this Study was issued, so vast an amount of work has been carried on in this field that the preparation of a new edition of the book has been a long and serious task. Nearly every page has been rewritten or enlarged and the Index of Authors consulted has more than doubled in length. The original portions of the book have been still more changed; sixteen new Histories have been added, selected from others in my possession as being varied, typical, and full.These extensive additions to the volume have rendered necessary various omissions. Many of the shorter and less instructive Histories contained in earlier editions have been omitted, as well as three Appendices which no longer seem of sufficient interest to retain. In order to avoid undue increase in the size of this volume, already much larger than in the previous editions, a new Study of Eonism, or sexo-esthetic inversion, will be inserted in vol. v, where it will perhaps be at least as much in place as here.

Sexual inversion, as here understood, means sexual instinct turned by inborn constitutional abnormality toward persons of the same sex. It is thus a narrower term than homosexuality, which includes all sexual attractions between persons of the same sex, even when seemingly due to the accidental absence of the natural objects of sexual attraction, a phenomenon of wide occurrence among all human races and among most of the higher animals. It is only during recent years that sexual inversion has been recognized; previously it was not distinguished from homosexuality in general, and homosexuality was regarded as a national custom, as an individual vice, or as an unimportant episode in grave forms of insanity. We have further to distinguish sexual inversion and all other forms of homosexuality from another kind of inversion which usually remains, so far as the sexual impulse itself is concerned, heterosexual, that is to say, normal. Inversion of this kind leads a person to feel like a person of the opposite sex, and to adopt, so far as possible, the tastes, habits, and dress of the opposite sex, while the direction of the sexual impulse remains normal. This condition I term sexo-esthetic inversion, or Eonism.

The classic manifesto of the liberated woman, this book explores every facet of a woman's life.

English psychologist Havelock Ellis played an instrumental role in shaping many of our modern ideas about sexuality, gender, and sexual preferences. He dedicated his career to researching then-taboo subjects such as homosexuality and deviant sexual behaviors. This comprehensive volume collects the most pertinent findings from the first phase of Ellis' tenure as a researcher.

Sexuality is a fundamental component of human psychological experience, and yet it remains relatively underrepresented in the history of the psychological sciences. The APA Handbook on Sexuality and Psychology marks a turning point in the status of sexuality within the discipline of psychology. This comprehensive, two-volume handbook provides an overarching review of current empirical research on sexuality and a synthesis of the dominant theoretical perspectives that have guided both research and clinical practice. An organizing current throughout the volume is the integration of individual experience and social/cultural context across every domain of sexuality. This dual emphasis on person and context is reflected in the structure of the handbook itself. Volume 1 presents foundational information on the history, theoretical and methodological development and current practices in the field, and then moves on to address foundational aspects of sexuality, including desire, orientation, behavior and practices, individual lifespan development, and biological substrates. Volume 2 broadens the analytical frame to emphasize the core contextual factors known to influence the development, expression and interpretation of sexuality and its expression in and through all of the key social institutions of our society, including marginalized populations, education, sexual rights and communities, globalization, religion and the media. The APA Handbook on Sexuality and Psychology will become a defining resource of this increasingly central topic across the sub-disciplines of psychology.