“Spurgas systematically traces the history of scientific research into the question of women’s supposedly ‘low sexual desire,’ while also problematizing that research, questioning its premises, methods, and goals. She succeeds, … not only in transcending the pomposity and sanctimony of that academic-scientific tradition, but in exposing its heterosexual, cisgender, and androcentric biases. She deconstructs that research, tearing it up piece by piece.” —Leslie Margolin, Psychology of Women Quarterly
“For those interested in a critical analysis of sexology and trauma, this book's solutions to desire as oppressors come from frameworks and theories that transcend psychology and acknowledge the traumatic realities that women live in.” —Hannie Smolyanitsky, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences
“Using an innovative pairing of textual analysis and interview methods, Diagnosing Desire successfully queries the definition and discipline of women’s sexuality through research and therapeutic discourses … Spurgas’s contributions to biopolitics and the construction of gender difference give the book appeal not just to those interested in sexuality or science and technology studies, but to scholars of feminism, embodiment, normativity, governmentality, and neoliberalism.” —Theodora K. Hurley, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics