background image
certified in Internal Medicine and am also a board-certified
Sexologist. I maintain a private internal medicine practice
in San Francisco, with a focus on sexual concerns and the
medical problems of sexual minorities.
In addition to my work, I have served as the President
of the Western Region of the Society of Scientific Study of
Sexuality and am on the Editorial Board of San Francisco
Medicine. I am in the process of forming the American
College of Sexual Medicine and Health, an organization
of physicians interested in the sexual aspects of medicine.
(You can check out my website, which is under development
at this time, at http://pweb.netcom.com/~docx2/ACSMH.
html). I have published numerous academic papers on
sexual topics, including nipple piercing, sadomasochism,
safer sex, orgasm, and the effects of recreational drugs
on sexual functioning. In addition, I am a frequent
speaker and expert witness on alternative sexualities. My
curriculum vitae can be accessed on-line at http://pweb.
netcom.com/~docx2/cv.html.
On the terminology in this book. The increasing
complexity of today's health care system has made some
of the terminology in this book rather challenging. It is
no longer realistic to assume that the first or only health
care practitioner a patient is likely to see will be a doctor
of medicine (M.D.) ­ it might just as well be a doctor of
chiropractic, an osteopath, a nurse, nurse practitioner or
physician's assistant, or a naturopath.
Happily, we can also no longer assume that the health
care practitioner in question will be male.
Therefore, throughout this book, I have alternated
between "he" and "she" in discussing both health care