Posted on 05/08/2005 3:09:58 PM PDT by wagglebee
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - From bondage to "breath play" and zoophilia, it's not easy keeping up with society's fast-developing sexual trends.
That's why some of North America's top sexologists are hunkered down with academics and therapists at a Fisherman's Wharf hotel this weekend: to swap findings about everything from teens with underwear fetishes to transgender couples.
"These couples have problems that I didn't know how to deal with," said Olga Perez Stable Cox, president of the Western U.S. region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. "You have to understand the culture, otherwise you're an outsider, and you don't get it."
The theme for the society's four-day conference is "Unstudied, Understudied And Underserved Sexual Communities." Presentations range from discussions from autoerotic asphyxiation, or "breath play," to zoophiles, or animal lovers, to more mainstream topics like sex motives of dating partners.
"Let me tell you, it was not easy finding these pictures," Hunter College professor Jose E. Nanin told his audience in a seminar about "specialized" sexual behavior among gay men.
Nanin's photos are more than an explicit how-to of exhibitionism and sadomasochism, he says; they are examples of safe alternatives to sexual intercourse that need to be de-stigmatized in order to fight diseases like HIV/AIDS.
Researchers say their greater goal is to help the medical community, the public and legislators figure out what behavior is merely out of the norm versus downright dangerous.
"As sex researchers, one of our concerns is distinguishing what can be harmful and what is not -- so that instead of being based on myth, public policy can be informed," said Charlene Muehlenhard, professor of psychology and women's studies at The University of Kansas.
When authorities caught a Midwestern U.S. teenage boy stealing girls' underwear, they immediately demonized his underwear fetish, Pennsylvania State University researcher Patricia Barthalow Kosch said. Many clinicians attribute the boy's crime more to broken family relations. The crime was theft, not his sexual fantasies, conference attendees said.
Teen sexuality draws sensational headlines, but suffers from a lack of academic study, researchers said.
Kim Openshaw, a psychology professor at Utah State University in Logan, Utah, who studies teenage sex offenders, said the limited amount of research so far has found that girls make up only 5 to 10 percent of all underage sex offenders.
The numbers are underreported, Openshaw says, because many people are reluctant to acknowledge the problem.
Victims of girl sex offenders tend to be in the immediate family circle. Most perpetrators are victims of family abuse. By contrast, boy sex offenders tend to be more macho, violent and attack outside of their immediate family.
The leftists will find a way to justify anything.
Presumably these blighters never realised there are some things which one is better off not knowing. I for one, do not want to know most of the things they're discussing. The only thing I want to know is who is paying for all this.
Regards, Ivan
I always wear a full body rubber before i enter the city of SFrancisco. I wouldn't want to get any contagious diseases from the sickos that live there.
Lemmie guess, more "healthy" and "normal" activities of the homosexual community that must be embraced and taught to our children...
Was there a popularity contest? What won? What lost?
where are the pictures?
These "researchers" need to have a conference to find out about this stuff? Just watching a few episodes of "CSI" will catch them up real fast...
Plus the leg holes rip when one jams ones leg into them .
Or so Laz says....
Strangely enough, I've not found a woman who shares this common fetish.
I agree. What kind of deviant mind would get sexual pleasure out of golden showers. All I know is that if I take a leak on my wife I'm headed for divorce court.
Would some one please clue me in on what the hell this is? I'm just a simple Redneck. I have never heard of this term before. Jeff
Personally, I have absolutely no idea what "breath play" is.
Ok - I'm sorry - but there's a reason these sex acts are unpopular. Sheesh!!
How come everyone claims I have these strange fetishes?
I feel like I am going to throw up. Some things are better left not known.
You could start your own website, I'm sure there's on or two out there!
LMBO!!!
Mad Ivan told me.
If you are also an amputee....you are my soulmate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.