I would like to make my acknowledgments chronologically-the way they occurred over the past five years. In September of 1980 I had been talking informally with one of my doctoral students, G.C. Sponaugle. We had just finished a joint research project on extramarital sexuality in America and had published an article on that work. I mentioned to him that I thought we needed more than just specific theories explaining areas like extramarital sexuality. I felt we needed an overall sociological explanation of sexuality. G.C. shared my view and encouraged me to undertake to develop such a theory. At about that same time a colleague and friend of mine, Joel Nelson, and I also discussed the possibility of my undertaking such a project and he supported my doing it and suggested that I write for a wider audience than just sociologists. I owe a great deal to such encouragement for it was important in motivating me further to undertake such an immense project.
My minor fields in graduate school had been philosophy and anthropology. I had partially kept up with these areas in my teaching and reading, but this book would afford me an excuse to deepen my relationship with those exciting fields. I was enthusiastic about anthropology and philosophy because I believed that I could utilize these disciplines to expand my sociological insights. In that way I would be doing sociological work, yet it would be work deeply aided by increased knowledge of these other disciplines.
The actual writing of the book occurred in one year from the summer of 1984 to the summer of 1985. But in the four years before that writing began, I worked intensely on becoming more familiar with the cross cultural literature that might be relevant to my project. I consulted with many individuals who gave me advice regarding what to read. No one was more helpful than Judy Modell - an anthropologist herself. She put me in touch with the most recent literature on sexuality and gender and she raised the key philosophical issues I would have to face as my project proceeded. There were many others with whom I spoke at some length to gain deeper insight into their work and to obtain additional sources of information in their fields. These include: Larry Baron, Joseph Bohlen, Vern Bullough, Ed Donnerstein, David Goldfoot, Michael Gordon, Sarah Hrdy, Virginia Johnson, David Kopf, Berl Kutchinsky, Andrew Mattison, William Masters, John Modell, Ron Nadler, Len Rosenblum, Murray Straus, Jan Trost, and Dolf Zillman.
In the middle of my writing I decided I needed more than just familiarity with specific ethnographic accounts of how sexuality operated in another society, I wanted a broader overview and I became interested in working with the Standard Sample composed of 186 societies. I discovered that most of the information on sexuality for Standard Sample societies was contained in very recent additions by individual professionals. I contacted and received permission to use the data of five researchers: Gwen Broude, Martin Whyte, Marc Ross, Ralph Hupka and Peggy Sanday. Without their data I could not have analyzed my ideas anywhere near as carefully as I did. I am grateful to them for their willingness to share.
Within my own department I received advice on methodological problems from Professors Robert Leik, Roberta Simmons, and especially Willy Jasso. In the course of the computer work on the Standard Sample, two students assisted me: Gigi Carr, an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, and G.C. Sponaugle, the doctoral student who had encouraged me to undertake this project. Their technical skills were an important asset. Another of our graduate students, Craig Roberts, taught me to use my newly purchased word processor on which I wrote the book. The student codirector of our data center, Terry Schmidt, was always willing to show me how to access the mainframe computer and precisely what to do to accomplish many complex computer operations. Also of importance, my university not only gave me a sabbatical but a year later gave me a quarter leave to finish writing the manuscript. The executive secretary of the Family Study Center, Mary Ann Beneke, assisted me in many of the tasks connected with the book. All this was essential to the completion of my work.
Finally, after the manuscript was written, it was important to obtain the judgment of other professionals. Three colleagues read the manuscript and gave me the benefit of their comments. One was professor Hyman Rodman, who is a sociologist in the Family Research Center of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He is widely known for his cross-cultural work on the family. Professor David Klein, a sociologist at Notre Dame University, was my second reader. I had earlier discussed many of my ideas with him and received excellent suggestions. He specializes in the family area and for many years has taught courses in theory construction. My third reader was Professor Paul Rosenblatt from the Department of Family Social Science of the School of Home Economics at the University of Minnesota. Professor Rosenblatt is trained in psychology but has a long-term interest in anthropology and is the current president of the Society for CrossCultural Research. The comments from these three professionals came from a variety of expert perspectives and were immensely helpful to me. I hope I may return the favor to them someday.
As I write this down, I realize even more fully how much in debt I am to a great many people. But there is one debt that I owe more than any other, and that is to my wife, who is really my number one colleague. Despite being busy with her own work as a researcher and interviewer, she discussed with me almost every major idea I had and gave me the benefit of her insights. She also read and edited the manuscript and made me aware of the many places where I had not sufficiently clarified or explained my thinking. Several of my ideas were sharpened and in some cases radically changed by this ongoing process of intellectual exchange. Throughout this project she has been an insightful critic and yet my staunchest supporter. The book would not be what it is without her help.
I owe a very special thanks to Sepp Biehler and to his widow, Ingeborg Biehler. In 1969 Sepp Biehler, a West German artist, created a wood print called "Das Paar" (The Pair). I was given a copy as a present shortly thereafter and was taken by it immediately. Ingeborg Biehler has graciously given me permission to use this print on the cover of the book. As you can see, the print is that of a couple - it is a generic couple whose gender and age are unknown but whose union is overwhelmingly apparent. To me it symbolizes a great deal about human relationships and sexuality, and I am proud to be able to use it as a motif for my book.
Finally, let me express my appreciation to Prentice-Hall. They have been most cooperative and supportive. Not all publishers are that helpful. I give special thanks to College Editor Bill Webber, and also thank his assistant Kathleen Dorman and Kate Kelly who managed the production of the book. They did their work on the book with a great deal of skill and expertise.