Sexology

A revealing—and often unsettling—artifact of early 20th-century thinking, Sexology attempts to explain human sexuality through a mix of medical theory, moral instruction, and social expectation, reflecting a world deeply anxious about desire, gender roles, and “proper” behavior.

Blending anatomy, psychology, and cultural commentary, Walling tackles everything from marriage and reproduction to masturbation and morality, offering what was presented as scientific guidance but now reads as a window into the biases, fears, and contradictions of its time—where curiosity about the body collided with rigid ideas about how people, especially women, were supposed to live.