Prescription for Heterosexuality

“A valuable addition to the growing list of studies of domestic and sexual containment.”—Journal of American History

“An elegant book that illuminates the intersection of medicine, sexuality, and citizenship in the Cold War era.”—American Historical Review

“Recommended. All levels/libraries.”—CHOICE

“Delving into issues rarely examined by historians, Carolyn Lewis argues that physicians helped construct the criteria by which healthy heterosexuality was defined and understood in the Cold War era. She brings a keen analytic eye to this fascinating, well-written, and illuminating study.”—Elaine Tyler May, author of America and the Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation

“This engaging and well-researched history explores how physicians' advice underwrote postwar gender prescriptions and helped to shape new norms of sex and marriage for Americans. By examining both medical debates and patient norms, Lewis illuminates the interlocking worlds of physicians and those who sought their counsel in an era of experts.”—Miriam Reumann, author of American Sexual Character: Sex, Gender, and National Identity in the Kinsey Reports