ABSTRACT
This first conference on female sexual dysfunction (FSD) offers researchers and clinicians an important opportunity to add to the already sizable literature on contemporary women's sexual problems. Those gathered here have an opportunity to make substantial contributions to the ongoing story of women's sexuality. In addition, many clinical sex researchers are uncomfortable with real-life sexuality. They avoid looking too closely at the psychology of sexuality. Perhaps researchers are embarrassed to ask about what people feel and want sexually, about what sexuality means in people's lives and relationships. Sexual psychology is not the only area that researchers resist looking at too closely. They also view sexual culture, especially the workings of gender as a major element in sexual culture, as a threatening topic. There are truckloads and warehouses full of research on women's sexuality detailing how gender and sexuality intertwine to make the history of women's sexual experience the story of diverse forms of suppression and resistance.
