ABSTRACT

In 1998, the Journal of Sex Research became the first sexological journal to publish a special issue devoted to the use of theory in sexuality research (Weis, 1998c). This collection of articles demonstrated the continuing development of sexual theory, but it also served to highlight the general lack of connection between research and theorizing in sexual science. In his 1981 presidential address to the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), Ira Reiss (1982) issued a challenge to the field to improve research by focusing on the general goals of science, particularly the development of empirically grounded theory. For Reiss, theoretical explanations comprise the heart of science. Such explanations are what scientists do. This is a view shared by Kerlinger (1979), who argued that the very purpose of science is theory.