The Birth and Development of Sexual Medicine: Reflections of My Personal Journey

Abstract

Introduction The phrase “sexual medicine” has become commonplace, as there is now the International Society for Sexual Medicine, the British Society for Sexual Medicine, the European Academy for Sexual Medicine, and the Journal of Sexual Medicine. The historic origin of the phrase “sexual medicine” is somewhat obscure. Aim The goal of this report is to provide my own individual journey as a physician to recall the use of the phrase “sexual medicine.” Methods Literature review, personal historic recall. Results Gorm Wagner has identified three publications in the German language that include “Sexualmedizin” in the titles, the first published as early as 1908, and the other two publications were published in 1915 and 1931. I have no recollection of having heard the term “sexual medicine” before a meeting in 1970 on nonconsummation. I met Dr. Eric Trimmer, editor of “Medical News,” who discussed with me the idea of introducing a new journal devoted to sexual issues. I suggested the title “British Journal of Sexual Medicine.” The term “sexual medicine” was preferred because it encompassed both organic and psychological issues of sexual function and its problems. The British Journal of Sexual Medicine was published in 1973 to 1985. Other titles using Sexual Medicine appeared in other texts over the years. Conclusion From my perspective, including a search of the literature in the English language published in or before 1970 that failed to find any reference to sexual medicine, I conclude that the phase “sexual medicine” was popularized in the 1970s.

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EDITORIAL: “The Past is a Foreign Country: They Do Things Differently There.” L.P. Hartley in The Go-Between (1953)

“…This brings us to the question of when the term “sexual medicine” really first occurred among the medical community. Riley in his earlier article “The birth and development of Sexual Medicine: reflections of my personal journey” has outlined the establishment of the new speciality of “sexual medicine” in the early 1970s [2]. However, it leaves us with an unbelievable gap of several decades that needs more historical research.…”