Abstract
Sexuality is a broad and complex topic which has been studied from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, including its own discipline of “sexology.” Even when interest is confined to sexual behavior, research approaches can range from the biological sciences to the social sciences and the humanities and from the laboratory to the cultural and historical. Sexuality is also a particularly sensitive and emotionally charged topic that evokes a wide range of strong reactions including political, moral, ethical, and religious responses. Even in the area of empirical scientific research, it is difficult to escape the “specialness” of sexuality. This is what Rubin 1984 referred to as the “fallacy of misplaced scale,” referencing Sontag who pointed out that “everything pertaining to sex has been a ‘special case’ in our culture” (Sontag 1969: 46). It is often difficult to maintain a level of objectivity and scale when thinking of sex. This has made it particularly difficult to conduct research directly about sexuality.
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Michaels, S. (2013). Sexual Behavior and Practices: Data and Measurement. In: Baumle, A. (eds) International Handbook on the Demography of Sexuality. International Handbooks of Population, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5512-3_2
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