Reviews for Practice Evaluation for the 21st Century

The average rating for Practice Evaluation for the 21st Century based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-10-13 00:00:00 Willa Distasi i think the biggest problem, and there are a lot of flaws to this composition, is the way in which Roiphe relies on a linear narrative of the history of sexuality (something along the lines of 1950s puritanism, 60s and 70s sexual revolution, 80s and 90s AIDS and the Sexual Counter revolution) and projects middle class values (obsession with safety esp. regarding sexuality) as a universal norm and ignores anything that could challenge this monolithic narrative (like the presence of bug chasers, the strong defenses of public sexuality and public sex venues, the birth of lesbian cruising culture, etc. etc. etc.) and failure to analyze how the "new abstinence" movement isn't simply a response to AIDS but an attempt to re-ascribe values from a non-existent era of sexual purity. There are some interesting analyses of the nature of celebrity in the AIDS era or on how groups that are most prone to taking up the values of the new abstinence movement are those who are least likely to contract AIDS (white, middle class, straights & etc.) but ultimately even if this is a fast (circa 4-5 hours) read, it doesn't feel like a very rewarding investment of ones time. i have a bunch more nitpicky complaints but i think this is sufficient.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-05 00:00:00 Sherry Smith Somehow I seem to be simultaneously too liberal and too conservative for this book. In some parts it's an interesting snapshot of sex twenty (!) years ago, and had some interesting notes on the AIDS epidemic, particularly Magic Johnson, but mostly she derides condoms (and then promotes them?), believes Puritanism not actual health risks is the mastermind behind AIDS prevention, and trivializes date rape.