Web sites

Janssen, D. F. (2002-2003). Growing Up Sexually. Volume I: World Reference Atlas; Volume II: The Sexual Curriculum: The Manufacture and Performance of Pre-Adult Sexualities. Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Interim versions of both volumes have been web-published January 30, 2003, at the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology website, Berlin, under auspices of Professor Dr. Erwin Haeberle ( http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/GUS_AFS.HTM et seq.).

Briefly, the project “Growing Up Sexually” (January-September 2002) originally was borne out of a literature review financially supported by the Dutch Dr. Mr. Edward Brongersma Foundation, Amsterdam1. It comprises of a two-volume, bimodal overview of cross-cultural material relevant for the study of preadult sexual behaviour curricula and trajectories. The first volume (“Atlas”) consists of an annotated bibliography using a rough geo-/ ethnographical organisation. The
outcome is a heterogeneous collection of accounts of sexual behaviour trajectories that may be or have been typical for given communities within a given ethnohistorical space or time span. The second “thematic” volume tentatively elaborates on this collection, by (1) organising and challenging traditions, theoretical paradigms, and meta-scientific positionings pertaining to “sexual development” issues provided by anthropologists; which, together with (2) the influx of (non-) cross-culturalist sociological data and perspectives, is to accommodate (3) a cross-cultural presentation of Atlas data within a polythematic format. Taken together, the Volumes provide a detailed reference guide to ethnografia, historia, and sociologia not previously available. As such, it elaborates on and adds to the body of relevant data resulting from such recent projects as the International Encyclopedia of Sexuality2, the numeric cross-cultural method (as reviewed in Vol. II, Appendix I), and the range of authors that have previously provided colloquia of ethnographic accounts.

1 The Foundation supports scientific research within the confinements of sexual development studies. Advisory input was offered by Mr. Prof. Dr. Humphrey E. Lamur (University of Amstderdam), Mr. Cees J. Straver, PhD (former president of the Dutch Institute for Socio-Sexological Research), and Mr. Peter van
Eeten, MA.
2 Francoeur, R. T. (Ed.-in-Chief, 1997-2001). The International Encyclopedia of Sexuality. 4 Volumes. New York: Continuum. [http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/IES/BEGIN.HTMet seq.]

The Atlas provides for a working database of materials which may be used in future ethnological, and ethnographic, efforts; it does not, at present, test hypotheses, contest or cross-analyse data, or introduce original field work. The collection is a working database in that it explicitly invites elaboration, organising questions rather than answers. Periodic revisions and updates have been scheduled.

Diederik F. Janssen, MD
Nijmegen University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
[email protected]