How sexual desire works : the enigmatic urge / Frederick Toates, the Open University, United Kingdom.

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, [2014]

xii, 499 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

What is enigmatic about sexual desire? -- Explaining desire: multiple perspectives -- Sexual desire in a broad context -- An incentive-based model -- Sex and levels of organization -- Sexual attraction -- Shades of desire from simple to complex -- Details of the brain and desire -- Arousal -- The consequences of sexual behaviour and associated expectations -- Sexual familiarity and novelty -- Inhibition, conflict and temptation -- How did sexual desire get here? -- Setting the trajectory: link to adult sexuality -- Sexual desire in interaction -- Representations of sex -- Sexual addiction -- Variations in desire: general principles -- Some forms of desire at the fringes -- The toxic fusion: violence and sexual desire -- Sexually associated (serial) murder.

Includes bibliographical references (page 456-486) and index.

Text in English.