Charles Allen Moser (born 1952) is an American physician specializing in internal medicine and focusing on sexual medicine. Moser is based in San Francisco and focuses his research and practice on individuals in the LGBT, kink, and fetish communities. Described by sex therapist Marty Klein as a national forensic expert, Moser is well known in his field, and he frequently writes to oppose diagnosing paraphilias, dyspareunia, hypersexuality, and other sexual phenomena as disorders.
Background
Moser received his B.S. in physics from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974. He then earned an M.S.W. from the University of Washington in 1975 and a degree from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in 1979. He later served as Professor of Sexology and Dean of Professional Studies there. He earned his M.D. from Hahnemann University School of Medicine, a homeopathic medical school, in 1991. He has practiced as a board-certified Internal Medicine physician since 1994. Moser has served as the President of the Western Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality and is on the Editorial Board of San Francisco Medicine.
Moser was the 2009 recipient of the Outstanding Contributions to Sexual Science Award from the Western Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Moser served on the Board of Directors of The Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality from 2001 to 2003 and on the Board for the St. James Infirmary Clinic from 2006 to 2008. He was elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians in 2006.
Selected publications
Moser’s publications have included discussions of paraphilia, use of Viagra by women, foot fetishes, nipple piercing, sadomasochism, safer sex, orgasm, and the effects of recreational drugs on sexual functioning. He has stated that the prevalence of sadomasochism is around 10% of the population. The specific paraphilias he has questioned as mental illnesses include pedophilia, hebephilia, sadism, autogynephilia, and zoophilia. Moser’s views have been criticized by conservatives.
He and Peggy Kleinplatz have criticized aspects of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, arguing for the removal of paraphilias and dyspareunia from the manual. They wrote, “The equating of unusual sexual interests with psychiatric diagnoses has been used to justify the oppression of sexual minorities and to serve political agendas. A review of this area is not only a scientific issue, but also a human rights issue.”
- Weinberg MS, Williams CJ, Moser C (1984). The Social Constituents of Sadomasochism. Social Problems 31(4), 379-389.
- Moser C, Levitt EE (1987). An exploratory-descriptive study of a sadomasochistically oriented sample. Journal of Sex Research 23(3), 322-337.
- Auerback S, Moser C (1987). Groups for the Wives of Gay and Bisexual Men. Social Work 32, 321-5.
- Moser C (1992). Lust, lack of desire, and paraphilias: Some thoughts and possible connections. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy 18(1), 65-69.
- Levitt EE, Moser C, Jamison KV (1994). The prevalence and some attributes of females in the sadomasochistic subculture: A second report. Archives of Sexual Behavior 3(4), 465-473.
- Moser C, Madeson JJ (1998). Bound to Be Free: The SM Experience. Continuum International Publishing Group (October 1998) ISBN 978-0-8264-1047-4
- Moser C (1999). Health Care Without Shame: A Handbook for the Sexually Diverse and Their Caregivers. Greenery Press, ISBN 978-1-890159-12-2
- Stock W, Moser C (2001). Feminist sex therapy in the age of Viagra. In P.J. Kleinplatz (Ed.) New Directions in Sex Therapy-Innovations and Alternatives Brunner-Routledge, ISBN 978-0-87630-967-4
- Moser C (2001). Paraphilia: Another confused sexological concept In P.J. Kleinplatz (Ed.) New Directions in Sex Therapy-Innovations and Alternatives Brunner-Routledge, ISBN 978-0-87630-967-4
- Moser C, Hardy JW (2002). Sex Disasters (And How To Survive Them). Greenery Press, ISBN 978-1-890159-44-3
- Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2002). Transvestitic fetishism: Psychopathology or iatrogenic artifact? New Jersey Psychologist, 52(2), 16-17.
- Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2005). DSM-IV-TR and the paraphilias: An argument for removal. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality 17(3/4), 91-109.
- Moser C (2005). Dyspareunia: Another Argument for Removal. Archives of Sexual Behavior 34(1), 44-46.
- Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2006). Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures. Routledge, ISBN 978-1-56023-639-9
References
Maurice WL (2003). Health Care Without Shame: A Handbook for the Sexually Diverse and Their Caregivers (Book Review). Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 32, Number 1, February 2003 , pp. 86–87(2)
Klein, Marty (2006). America’s war on sex: the attack on law, lust and liberty, p. 168. Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 978-0-275-98785-5
Shindel, AW; Moser, C. (2011). Why are the Paraphilias mental disorders? The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 8(3), 927-929. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2010.02087.x.
Moser, C. (2011). Yet another paraphilia definition fails. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 40(3), 483-485, doi:10.1007/s10508-010-9717-x
Moser, C. (2005). Peer Commentaries on Binik (2005): Dyspareunia: Another argument for removal. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 34, 44-46.
Moser, C. (1993). A response to Aviel Goodman’s “Sexual addiction: Designation and treatment”. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 19, 220-224.
Awards given by the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality Western Region
Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2006). Sadomasochism: Powerful Pleasures. Routledge, ISBN 978-1-56023-639-9
Ehrenreich B, Elizabeth Hess E, Gloria Jacobs G (1986). Re-making Love: The Feminization of Sex Anchor Press/Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-18498-4. Page 213, footnote 10. Quotation: “Charles Allen Moser, unpublished doctoral dissertation for the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, completed August 1979.”
Moser C, Hardy JW (2002). Sex Disasters (And How To Survive Them). Greenery Press, ISBN 978-1-890159-44-3
Kleinplatz PJ (Ed.) “About the Editor and Contributors”, New Directions in Sex Therapy-Innovations and Alternatives Brunner-Routledge, ISBN 978-0-87630-967-4. p. 374.
Moser C (2003). General Medical Care of the Gender Dysphoric Patient. San Francisco Medicine, September 2003, Volume 76, No. 8
Apostolides, Marianne (2007). The Pleasure of Pain. In Erich Goode, D. Angus Vail (eds.) Extreme Deviance, p. 207 Pine Forge Press, ISBN 978-1-4129-3722-1
Elias, Marilyn (Jul 16, 1998). Pill’s possibilities excite women But Viagra’s effects on female bodies remain a medical mystery. USA Today
Kelleher, Kathleen (September 30, 1996). Head over heels in love. Los Angeles Times
Crittenden B (2008). Charles Moser, MD, PhD: A Sexual Medical Expert on Unusual Sexual Interests. Taste of Sex
Cavendish, Marshall (2009). Sex and Society, Volume 3, p. 735. Marshall Cavendish Corporation, ISBN 978-0-7614-7908-6
Moser, C. (2002). Peer commentaries on Green (2002) and Schmidt (2002). Archives of Sexual Behavior, 31, 479-503.
Moser CA. When is an unusual sexual interest a mental disorder? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38, 323-325. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9436-8
Kleinplatz, P. J., & Moser, C. (2007). Is SM pathological? In D. Langdridge & M. Barker (Eds.), Safe, sane and consensual: Contemporary perspectives on sadomasochism, (pp. 55-62). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Moser, C. (2010). Blanchard’s Autogynephilia Theory: A critique. Journal of Homosexuality, 57(6), 790-809. doi:10.1080/00918369.2010.486241
Moser, C. (2001). Paraphilia: A critique of a confused concept. In P. J. Kleinplatz (Ed.), New directions in sex therapy: Innovations and alternatives, (pp. 91-108). New York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Morahan, Lawrence (June 11, 2003). Psychiatric Association Debates Lifting Taboo Against Pedophilia. Cybercast News Service/Newsmax
Walfield, Paul (July 8, 2003). APA Isn’t Thinking Clearly in Its Assessment of Pedophiles. Insight on the News
Moser C (2005). Dyspareunia: Another Argument for Removal. Archives of Sexual Behavior 34(1), 44-46.
Roberts S, Pritchard C (2008). Defining Normality. Philosophy Now, Issue 68 July/August 2008
Alexander, Brian (May 22, 2008). What’s ‘normal’ sex? Shrinks seek definition. MSNBC
Resources
Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality (iashs.edu)
Charles Moser website (home.netcom.com/~docx2) [archive]
Internet Movie Database ()