Leonore Tiefer, interviewed by Moira Brennan

Americans’ knowledge about sexuality has been hampered by misinformation, contends Leonore Tiefer in the following viewpoint. For one thing, she argues, most Americans have an overly narrow understanding of sex, designating it as a purely physical function or as shameful activity. On the other hand, people have been inundated with media images—often unrealistic ones—of sexuality.

Conservatives have used the current anxiety created by this overemphasis on sex to rationalize a moratorium on honest public debate about sexual issues, Tiefer maintains. What Americans need is to become better educated about sexuality so that they can put its importance into reasonable perspective, she concludes. Tiefer is a sex therapist and the author of Sex Is Not a Natural Act. She is interviewed by Moira Brennan, the...