Lars Ullerstam
Swedish psychiatrist and sexologist (born 1935)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lars Gustaf Adolf Ullerstam (born April 22, 1935)[1] in Vanersborg, Sweden, is a psychiatrist, sexologist, and author best known for his 1964 book, De erotiska minoritertena (released in the United States in 1966 under the title, The Erotic Minorities.)[2] In Sweden, Ullerstam was one of the most influential figures arguing for sexual liberation of the 1960s.[3] The book, as of 2015, had been translated into 8 languages.[4]
The Erotic Minorities
The Erotic Minorities argued against the concept of perversion as a category.[2] While he defended homosexuality, most of the content of his book centered around other sexual practices and desires, such as pedophilia, zoophilia, prostitution, necrophilia, and BDSM.[2][5] Ullerstam argued for state-backed brothels as mental health care, claiming that framing prostitution in this way would create "sexual Samaritans" who would staff the brothels.[6] He accepted the criminalization of pedophilia, but did not believe that it was possible for pedophiles to repress their desires and believed that it was only conditioning that made pedophilia wrong.[7] Ullerstam also argued against the restriction of pornography.[7]