Pornography and the ‘science of sex’ – sexology – are redefining sexuality in the West today, but is the model of sexuality promoted by these two industries selling sex short? In this, the first book to fully investigate the connections between the industries of pornography and sexology, they are found to promote a very similar type of sexual ideal.

Sex therapists now recommend hard-core pornography to patients and porn stars have become sex-advice ‘experts’ offering bestselling self-help books. With reports of the increasing ‘pornification’ of popular culture and an...