The Autism Spectrum Guide to Sexuality and Relationships: Understand Yourself and Make Choices that are Right for You

282 Pages·2016·3.336 MB·English

by  Emma Goodall

‘The Autism Spectrum Guide to Sexuality and Relationships is a solid guide...
Powerful, easy-to-read and practical advice providing knowledge and
strategies for people with autism.’
–Ioannis Voskopoulos and Labrini Ioannou, Psychologists
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THE AUTISM SPECTRUM GUIDE
SEXUALIT Y
TO AND
RELATIONSHIPS
Understand Yourself
and Make Choices that
are Right for You
Dr Emma Goodall
Forewords by Dr Wenn Lawson
and Jeanette Purkis
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia
First published in 2016
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Emma Goodall 2016
Forewords copyright © Wenn Lawson and Jeanette Purkis 2016
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any
material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by
electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other
use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright
owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N
8TS. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce
any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work
may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84905 705 9
eISBN 978 1 78450 226 3
This book came about because I have been given the gift of
knowledge and an awareness that it really is OK to be yourself,
whoever that might be. Many thanks to Jane, who taught
me to ‘seek to understand’, Brian who helped me understand
that you can’t change the past but you can influence the
future by liking yourself and just being yourself, and finally
Ben, Mike and Vicki for their influence on my journey.
DISCLAIMER
This book is intended for informational purposes only, and is
in no way intended to be a substitute for professional medical
advice. The reader should always consult a doctor on matters
relating to his/her health.
CONTENTS
Foreword by dr wenn Lawson 9
Foreword by Jeanette Purkis 14
introduction 16
1 Overview of Relationships and Sexuality 19
2 Gender 21
3 Types of Sexuality 24
4 Types of Relationships 35
5 Understanding Your Own Sexuality 79
6 Understanding the Sexuality of Others 106
7 Sexual Relationships 109
8 Non-Sexual Relationships 116
9 Starting (Sexual) Relationships 123
10 Sexual Relationships in Real Life 141
11 Meeting Online and Then Transitioning to Real Life 159
12 Ending Relationships 161
13 Reasons Why You Should End Relationships (How to
Know a Relationship is Bad) 178
14 Maintaining Long-Term Relationships 204
15 Sexual Activity and Sexual Pleasure 221
16 Sexual Activity by Yourself 225
17 Sexual Activity with Someone Else 229
18 Having Children (Your Own or Other’s)
and How This Affects Relationships 237
19 Choosing Not to Have Children 250
20 Physical and Mental Health and Relationships 254
21 Physical and Mental Health and Sexual Activity 257
22 Summary 275
index 277