This groundbreaking work draws on a vast range of research into human sexuality to demonstrate that homosexuality is not a phenomenon limited to a small minority of society, but is an aspect of a complex sexual harmony that the human race inherited from its animal ancestors. Through a survey of the patterns of sexual expression found among animals and among societies around the world, and an examination of the functional role homosexual behavior has played among animal species and human societies alike, the author arrives at some provocative conclusions: that a homosexual or bisexual phase is a normal part of sexual development, that same-sex relations play an important balancing role in regulating human reproduction, that many societies have institutionalized homosexual traditions in the past, and that the harsh condemnation of homosexuality in Western society is a relatively recent phenomenon, unique among world societies throughout history. This well researched and meticulously documented book is the first that integrates into a coherent picture the startling revelations about human sexuality coming from the recent work of sexual researchers, psychologists, anthropologists and historians. The view that emerges, of an ambisexual human species whose complex sexual harmony is being thwarted by the imposition of an artificial understanding of nature, represents a new way of thinking about sex.

"Sexuality, as we live it, is primarily a social creation and therefore it changes historically; sexual definition which we accept as "natural" - such as lesbian, gay, or heterosexual - emerge only through a specific social process linked to broader changes in class, gender, and State formation. This pioneering analysis uncovers the history of the Canadian lesbian and gay communities, and, by extension, the history of sexuality in general. Kinsman offers insights into the social forces that have organized and maintained gay oppression and pinpoints some potential allies of sexual liberation. He suggest moving towards very different criteria for organizing and regulating sexuality, desire, and pleasure. The Regulation of Desire concludes with suggestions as to how sexual politics and help transform progressive politics and contribute to broad social change."--Page [4] of cover.