Patterns of Sexual Behavior

Patterns of Sexual Behavior is a 1951 book by anthropologist

Clellan S. Ford and ethologist Frank A. Beach, in which the authors Patterns of Sexual
integrate information about human sexual behavior from different Behavior
cultures, and include detailed comparisons across animal species,
with particular emphasis on primates. The book received positive
reviews and has been called a classic. It provided the foundation for
the later research of Masters and Johnson. A revised edition, titled
Human Sexuality in Four Perspectives, was published in 1977.

Contents
Summary
Publication history
Reception
Scientific and academic journals
Evaluations in books
References
Cover of the first edition
Authors Clellan S. Ford
Summary
Frank A. Beach

Ford and Beach employ a "cross-cultural correlational method" in Country United States
exploring sexual behavior,[1] a statistical approach suitable for Language English
distinguishing behavioral trends and making generalizations.[1] They
Subject Sexual behavior
integrate information from 191 cultures: 48 from Oceania, 28 from
Eurasia, 33 from Africa, 57 from North America, and 26 from South Publisher Harper & Brothers
America.[2] Much of their data was collected in the Human Publication 1951
Relations Area Files,[1] a cross-institutional organization co-founded date
by Ford.[3] They offer information on such topics as "sexual Media type Print (Hardcover and
positions, length (time) of intercourse, locations for intercourse, Paperback)
orgasm experiences, types of foreplay, courting behaviors,
frequencies of intercourse [and] methods of attracting a partner."[4] Pages
330 (1965 edition)
They cover homosexuality in both humans and other animals, citing ISBN 978-0061319136
evidence of accepted homosexual behavior in 49 of the 76 cultures
for which the relevant data were available.[2] Ford and Beach conclude that there is a "basic mammalian
capacity" for same-sex behavior.[2]

Publication history
Patterns of Sexual Behavior was originally published by Harper & Brothers, New York in 1951.[4] The
following year, the work was reprinted (under the title Patterns of Sexual Behaviour) by Eyre and
Spottiswoode in London.[4] Metheun published a reprint of the 1951 Harper & Row edition in 1965.[4] In
1977, Frank Beach authored a revised version of the book, entitled Human Sexuality in Four Perspectives.[5]
Reception

Scientific and academic journals

Patterns of Sexual Behavior received positive reviews from Allan R. Holmberg in the American
Sociological Review and Abraham Stone in Marriage and Family Living,[6][7] and was later discussed by the
anthropologist George Murdock in American Anthropologist.[3]

Holmberg described the book as well-written, and credited Ford and Beach with placing "the study of sex in
a broad scientific perspective" by presenting and analyzing "an enormous body of data" on sexual behavior
in both humans and non-human animals and placing it in cross-cultural, evolutionary, and physiological
perspectives. He described their efforts as having "important theoretical, methodological, and practical
implications" and believed they showed the merits of a "cross-disciplinary approach to the problems of
human behavior." He complimented them for statistically documenting sexual practices and attitudes, and
contributing important material on masturbation and homosexuality, suggesting the existence of "an inherent
biological tendency toward such activities." He believed their book deserved to be widely read and predicted
that it would have a "healthy impact on attitudes toward sex" and encourage further research by social
scientists. However, he criticized them for providing insufficient discussion of "the symbolic aspects of
sexual behavior".[6]

Stone credited Ford and Beach with examining both biological and social influences on sex, thereby
providing an "essential perspective" on human sexual behavior. Though he considered their use of the term
"sex behavior" to refer exclusively to "behavior involving stimulation and excitation of the sexual organ" to
be narrow, he believed they dealt "in great detail with a great many aspects of sex conduct and sex contact"
and provided a "very full presentation of sex behavior from the point of view of anatomy and
physiology".[7]

Murdock described the book as a "classic" of its field.[3]

Evaluations in books

Anne Bolin and Patricia Whelehan identified Patterns of Sexual Behavior as a book that was highly
influential in the study of sexual behavior in Perspectives on Human Sexuality (1999). They wrote that it
provided the intellectual foundation for the later research of Masters and Johnson.[1] Andrew Paul Lyons
and Harriet Lyons argued Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology and Sexuality (2004) that
Patterns of Sexual Behavior was comprehensive for its time but nevertheless contained a number of self-
imposed limitations. Its authors limited their definition of sexual behavior to "behavior involving
stimulation and excitation of the sexual organs," and made no attempt to explore sexual symbolism. While
acknowledging that their study might have implications for psychology and psychoanalysis, they felt
themselves unqualified to explore specific questions pertaining to this field. They claimed to make no
judgements of moral value, though their study is considered supportive of sexual relativism. Lyons and
Lyons credited them with "making homosexual behavior more visible and more acceptable within the
culture of its time."[2]

The anthropologist Peter B. Gray and Justin R. Garcia described Patterns of Sexual Behavior as similar to
their work Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior (2013) in its objectives; however, they also considered it
dated.[8]

References
 1. Anne Bolin & Patricia Whelehan (1999), Perspectives on Human Sexuality, SUNY Press, p10
2. Andrew Paul Lyons & Harriet Lyons (2004) Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology
and Sexuality, University of Nebraska Press, p268-70
3. George P. Murdock (1974) "Clellan Stearns Ford, 1909-1972," American Anthropologist, New
Series, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Mar., 1974), pp. 83-85
4. Patricia Stuart-Macadam & Katherine A. Dettwyler (1995) Breastfeeding: biocultural
perspectives, Transaction Publishers, p207
5. Dewsbury, Donald A. (2000) "Frank A. Beach, Master Teacher," Portraits of Pioneers in
Psychology, Volume 4, p269-281
6. Holmberg, Allan R. (August 1951). "Patterns of Sexual Behavior". American Sociological
Review. 16 (4): 578–579. doi:10.2307/2088305 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F2088305). –
via EBSCO (https://www.ebsco.com)'s Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
7. Stone, Abraham (August 1951). "Patterns of Sexual Behavior". Marriage and Family Living. 13
(3): 138. doi:10.2307/348578 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F348578). – via EBSCO (https://www.
ebsco.com)'s Academic Search Complete (subscription required)
8. Peter B. Gray & Justin R. Garcia (2013), Evolution and Human Sexual Behavior, Harvard
University Press, pp xv-xvi, 324

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