America's War on Sex

The Continuing Attack on Law, Lust, and Liberty

Marty Klein Ph.D.

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781440801280
• eBook ISBN: 9781440801297
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Human Sexuality in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This book exposes how a coalition of political, religious, and civic leaders are using the issue of sex to frighten, misinform, and bully Americans—paving the way for dramatic new public policies that are already restricting everyone's rights. Americans are more vulnerable today than ever to anxiety about sexual danger, to believing that their sexuality is not "normal" or moral, and to laws and public policies that restrict their rights, criminalize their consenting behavior, and confuse and miseducate their children. In the second edition of America's War on Sex: The Continuing Attack on Law, Lust, and Liberty, psychologist, sex therapist, and courtroom expert witness Marty Klein sets the record straight and uncovers how the "Sexual Disaster Industry" works—a powerful social and political propaganda machine that is supported by the very citizens it victimizes. This book analyzes eight "battlegrounds" in which America's War on Sex is being fought and examines how each one is the focus of an unrelenting struggle to regulate sexuality in direct contradiction to our Constitutional guarantees, scientific fact, and the needs of average Americans. Klein places these various attacks on our rights in historical context, explains how the money and political power are coordinated from the same sources, and shows how the Religious Right inflames Americans' anxiety about sexuality even as it proposes repressive schemes to reduce that anxiety. This book tackles a sensitive and volatile topic head-on, addressing how the political, social, historical, religious, and emotional issues surrounding public policy interfaces with sexuality as no other work has before.

Table of contents

• Cover
• America’s War on Sex
• Recent Titles in Sex, Love, and Psychology
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction to Second Edition: From Bush to Obama—Little or No Relief from the War on Sex
• 1. You’re the Target: Why a War on Sex?
• 2. Battleground: Sex Education—Where Children Come Second
• 3. The Most Powerful “Minority” in the United States
• 4. Battleground: Reproductive Rights
• 5. The Sexual Disaster Industry
• 6. Battleground: Broadcast “Indecency”
• 7. Yes, They Really Said That
• 8. Battleground: Adult Entertainment—Feverish Dreams, Real Estate Nightmares
• 9. How They Do It: Ammunition in the War on Sex
• 10. Battleground: The Internet
• 11. America Does Not Guarantee Your Right to Be Comfortable: The Lowest Common Erotic Denominator Project
• 12. Battleground: The War on “Pornography”
• 13. Extreme Religion and Public Policy
• 14. Battleground: Sexual Privacy and Sexual Minorities—Civil Rights or Immoral Privileges?
• 15. Revolutionizing American Government—Bad News for Democracy
• Epilogue: One Bright Spot
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• OTHER BOOKS BY MARTY KLEIN