Founding the
International Academy of Sex Research

The early 1970s was a watershed period for sexological science. A book on sexual function and another on sexual dysfunction were international bestsellers. The World Health Organization defined "sexual health". Nearly every American medical school incorporated human sexuality into its curriculum. The right to use a contraceptive and the right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy were affirmed by the highest U.S. court. And, millions of men and women queued to watch Linda Lovelace perform fellatio in the film "Deep Throat".

In the early 1970s sexual scientists were members of a diverse group of disciplines and isolated professional organizations. There was no common meeting ground for exchange between the relatively few scholars, world-wide, committed to sex research. There was no opportunity for sharing, either in person or on the printed page.

The first remedy was the launch of Archives of Sexual Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Research Journal. The second was the founding of the International Academy of Sex Research. They are linked.

Richard Green was Founding Editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior in 1971. A year later, he wrote to the Editorial Board proposing a new organization of sexual scientists. Each Board Member was asked to nominate ten scholars for charter membership. On August 1, 1973 there were 53 Charter Members.

The first annual meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research was held at the State University of NewYork at Stony Brook in September, 1975. It was hosted by the Academy Founding President, Richard Green.

To succeed, the organization needed to be international in more than name. For the first meeting, travel grants were provided for three members from outside the US. One grant was facilitated by Burton Joseph, Executive Director of the Playboy Foundation, and two by Stanley Yolles, Chair of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Stony Brook.The one day scientific program included presentations by members from the U.S. and Japan, England, Australia, Germany, Canada, and Hungary. So that the Academy would not be an exclusively American-based organization, provision was made that no two successive meetings would be held in the U.S..

To succeed, the organization needed to be an academy in more than name. Membership was to be limited in number and restricted to research scholars.

The link between the new journal and the new organization was forged. Archives of Sexual Behavior was designated the official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research.

A fuller exposition of the Academy founding is "The International Academy of Sex Research: In the Beginning", Archives of Sexual Behavior 14: 293-302, 1985, by Richard Green.

Some history of the Archives by Richard Green upon retirement after 30 years as Editor is "A 30 Years' Thank You", Archives of Sexual Behavior 30: 633-637, 2001.