The Institute's students come from all over the world, creating a multilingual, multicultural mix, which in itself is a learning experience. Most students already have graduate training when they enter the Institute, and many are involved professionally in the field of sexology or related helping professions. Current students include teachers, ministers, writers, physicians, social workers, nurses, psychologists, and others. They range in age from the early twenties to the mid-sixties. As in many other emerging fields of study, 60 percent of our students are women.
Graduates of the Institute are located throughout the world. They are teachers in high schools, colleges and medical schools. Many are in private practice as therapists, while others combine therapy with teaching and workshops. Some graduates have continued in their previous professions, as clergy, social workers, researchers, psychiatrists and physicians, but now do specialized work in sexology. Some have found a place in the commercial world as writers, filmmakers and in the media.
Click the link for a list of Ph.D. Dissertations from 1978 - 2012 (to the left).
1. All certificate and degree students will have expertise about sexual and reproductive anatomy and physiology, including but not limited to:
a. Male and female internal and external anatomy
b. The reproductive system of both sexes, and prenatal development
c. The physiology of males and females
d. The latest research from endocrinology and neuro-endocrinology on human sexual functioning
e. Erotic pathways
f. Conception
g. Sexual differentiation in fetal development
h. Complications related to health issues
2. All degree students shall have expertise about developmental sexuality, sexuality through the life span, including but not limited to:
a. The psycho/social/sexual stages of human development
b. Lifestyle choices and their consequences
c. Gender issues
d. Theories of sexual orientation
e. Frequency of all sexual behavior
3. All degree students shall have expertise about value development in our culture as it relates to sexuality, including but no limited to:
a. Social scripting and sexual behavior
b. Religious and ethical views of sexual behavior
c. Various theories on value development and sexuality
4. All degree students shall have expertise about medical aspects of sexuality, including but not limited to:
a. Pharmacological implications upon sexuality
b. Hypertension and the sexual implications of its treatment
c. Psychiatric disorders and the paraphilias
d. Implications of endocrine disorders
e. Urologic and chronic illness
f. Spinal cord injury and sexual prognosis
g. Visual impairment and sexual functioning
h. Retardation and sexual functioning
i. Hearing impairment and sexual functioning
j. Cardiovascular disease and sexual functioning
k. Gynecological problems and sexual functioning
5. All doctoral level students shall have expertise in the legal and ethical issues in clinical sexology, including but not limited to:
a. Love and sexual attraction
b. Theories of intimacy
c. Lifestyles and intimacy
d. Effective families and intimacy
6. All doctoral level students shall have expertise in the legal and the ethical issues in clinical sexology, including but not limited to:
a. Concepts of consensual sexual behavior
b. Legal definitions of child sexual abuse
c. Legal definitions of exhibitionism
d. Legal definitions of obscenity
e. Legal definitions of sexual harassment
f. Implications of sex with clients
7. All doctoral level students shall have expertise in implications of sexuality and the sexually transmitted infections, including but not limited to:
a. Causes, symptoms and treatments
b. Various myths about STIs
c. Social implications of STIs
d. Personal implications of STIs
8. All doctoral level students shall have expertise in the field of erotology, including but not limited to:
a. Great works of historic erotic art defined
b. Finding and identifying American sexual artifacts
c. The use of sexual artifacts in sex education
d. The use of erotology in clinical sexology
9. All Doctor of Human Sexuality and Doctor of Philosophy in Human Sexuality students shall have expertise in diagnosis of sexual dysfunctions and disorders, including but not limited to:
a. Definitions of clinical sexology
b. Identifying sexual dysfunctions
c. Definitions of sexual disorders
d. Identifying sexual distress and sexual trauma
e. Identifying desire phase disorders and their causes
f. Organic causes of sexual distresses and dysfunctions
10. All Doctor of Human Sexuality and Doctor of Philosophy in Human Sexuality students shall have expertise in treatment of sexual dysfunction and disorders, including but not limited to:
a. Models of clinical sexology
b. Behavioral techniques examined
c. Emotive techniques examined
d. Cognitive techniques examined
e. Sex-negative messages
11. All Doctor of Education in Human Sexuality students shall have expertise in education models for dealing with sexual ignorance and misinformation, including but not limited to:
a. Sexual learning theories examined
b. Sexuality courses of the past examined
c. Evaluating sex education
d. The design and development of sex-positive programs
e. The training of allied health professionals about sexology
f. Designing courses for persons in special circumstances
12. All Doctor of Philosophy in Human Sexuality students shall have expertise in research fields and methods, including but not limited to:
a. History of research in the helping professions
b. Developing research protocol
c. Longitudinal research on sexual matters
INSTITUTE COMPETENCY SKILL EXPECTATIONS
1. Clinical skills and competencies:
a. To be able to choose a method of clinical intervention which is the most appropriate for dealing with and presenting clinical problems
b. To have the skills to use any of the contemporary therapeutic techniques in their newest form based on the differential diagnostic methods used such people as Bill Masters, Albert Ellis and Marilyn Fithian
c. The competency to be able to choose between clinical sexological interventions and more traditional therapy and be able to refer when necessary
d. To have sufficient competency to understand one’s personal sexuality and the skill to not become involved in a transference or countertransference situation
e. To have the competency to be nonjudgmental when facing a patient’s sexual orientation or practices
f. To have the competency to understand and use appropriate referral techniques
g. The competency to take a complete sex history using sexological coding systems, which protect the privacy of the patient
h. To have the competency to be able to use the knowledge of developmental sexology for people in different parts of their life cycle
i. To have the competency to deal with the situational factors that affect sexual values, sexual situations, and sexual functioning
2. Research competencies and skills:
a. To have the competency to understand and use the uniqueness of sexological research as distinguished from sociological, medical and anthropological research
b. To have the skill to complete a basic sexological research project
c. To have the competency to design and submit research proposals that meet the research guidelines of other professionals, while at the same time maintaining integrity of the sexological orientation
d. The competency to design, pretest, validate, and administer a research instrument
e. The competency to critically appraise research in the sexological field specifically, and other fields in general
f. The competency to be able to use the sexological research journals
g. To have the competencies to be able to choose and be able to use any of the statistical methodologies appropriate for different types of research
h. To have the competency to use the research facilities of libraries and the computer research methodologies available through the Institute
3. Erotology competencies and skills:
a. To have the competency to understand the various media of erotic expression and the uniqueness associated with each, such as painting, photography, literature, film, video, and computer.
b. To have the competency to distinguish among sexual artifacts of different countries, including all erotological forms of expression
c. To have the competency to be able to identify erotic film expressions from the early 1900’s to the present
d. To have the competency to distinguish among erotological expressions of the 1930’s, including erotic comic books, 8-pagers, playing cards, and magazines
e. To have the competency to be able to recognize the uniqueness of the makers of the sexual artifacts and the persons involved in these productions
f. To have the competency to use standardized evaluation and coding systems developed by the Institute, the Kinsey Institute, and the Library of Congress
g. To have the competency to discuss erotic works of art of recognized artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, Picasso, Dali and others
h. To have the competency to differentiate among the sexual formulas expressed in video works of different countries such as Spain, Denmark, Germany, Argentina and Japan
i. To have the competency to discuss the history of the erotic film industry since the turn of the century
j. To have the competency to know the erotic expressions in the theater forms such as ballet, opera, plays, and the contemporary musical theater
k. To have the competency to use all types of media for educational and therapeutic purposes
l. To have the competency to understand your own personal sexual erotic orientation, and how to use that understanding in a design of erotological programming
m. To have the competency to critically evaluate the literary works of erotology in American culture in contrast to other cultures
n. To have the competency to understand and evaluate works expressive of homosexual, transsexual, transvestite, lesbian and other sexual minority groups
o. To have the competency to preserve, protect, and provide materials of our erotic heritage
4. STIs skills and competencies:
a. To have the competency to understand the history of how sexually transmitted infections have been viewed in the western world
b. To have the skills to identify the manifestation, causes, cures, and the preventions of all sexually transmitted infections currently in the world
c. To have the skills to understand the effect of STIs on sexual lifestyles
d. To have the competency to understand how AIDS is dealt with throughout the world
e. To have the competency to understand the range of treatment and prevention modalities currently available, such as chemical barrier protection and other chemoprophylactics
5. Anatomy and physiology skills and competencies:
a. To have the competency to deal with gender differentiation
b. To have the competency to be able to interpret both the uniqueness and the similarities of male and female sexual anatomy
c. To have the competency to explain to different audiences the role of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in the sexual response cycle
d. To have the competency to use the various sexual response measuring instruments
e. To have the competency to understand the danger of the vested interests of the other helping professions in dealing with presenting sexual problems
f. To have the competency to understand and interpret the many sexual cosmetic options
6. Legal skills and competencies:
a. The competency to be able to sort out and interpret the various legal responsibilities of a sexologist
b. To have the competency to do evaluations using court-directed guidelines
c. The competency to be an expert witness in all types of court situations requiring sexological and erotological expertise
d. The competency to work with other health professionals so that sexological and erotological expertise can be made usable in all matters of sex and the law
