Deep and Protracted Thoughts About Sex

Richard D. McAnulty Producing encyclopedias and reference sets on various topics has become a popular,and apparently lucrative, venture. Indeed, there are encyclopedias for almost everyimaginable topic (two of my favorites are the encyclopedia of hair and the onedevoted exclusively to Bob Dylan). There are literally hundreds of encyclopedias,most of which deal with very specific and relatively narrow topics. It should be nosurprise, then, that encyclopedias on sex have joined the fray. After all, sex does sell.Several recent encyclopedias address various aspects of sex and sexuality. Forexample, the same publisher, Greenwood Press, also offers an encyclopedia onprostitution and sex work (Ditmore, 2006). Better known is the four-volume setedited by Robert Francoeur, the