Roughly 20 people gathered at the National Sexuality Resource Center on Mission and 16th streets Thursday evening to hear Dr. Marty Klein talk about the issues in his book "America’s War on Sex: The Attack on Law, Lust and Liberty."

“It’s really nice to be in a place like San Francisco where people are willing to take a look at sex,” said Klein to his audience of mostly human sexuality students from SF State.

Klein, a licensed marriage and family therapist and sex therapist for over 25 years, warned them about what he described as a "war on sex."

“I don’t like to say that what’s going on is a conspiracy because that’s another word for screwball,” Klein said, chuckling.

But he says that’s it’s much worse, it’s a full out war.

He introduced the idea of a "Sexual Disaster Industry." This industry includes the government at all levels (federal, state, local), morality groups, therapists, and the religious right, among many others.

Klein claims that this Sexual Disaster Industry, or "SDI," is overstating the amount of sexual violence and sexual danger in America and as a result, society has entered a sex panic.

According to the FBI, crimes have gone down over the recent years, said Klein. Yet the public doesn’t realize this because they continue to see more and more violence and perversion on television.

“My wife sees more sexual perversion in a full hour of 'CSI' than I do in a day's work,” said Klein. “And I’m a sex therapist.”

Klein stated the true product of SDI is to install fear. And one of the key weapons in the war on sex is the shaping and dominating of America’s narratives about sex.

“The right has done an amazing job of seizing the narrative,” said Klein, “and all we got stuck with is unisex bathrooms.”

The small crowd chuckled as Klein compared humorous contradictions within the religious right.

“They’re for the death penalty but they're pro-life, amazing,” he said.

According to Klein, people are now demanding solutions to their sense of danger, and the SDI believes that sexual repressive legislation can reduce that anxiety.

He goes on to say that winning the war on sex isn’t the SDI’s main goal. The main goal is the need to get back to Judeo-Christianity and a time where religious values can again drive policies, and the war on sex is just one step closer to that goal, said Klein.

Liz Shafer, 27, who is part of the master's program for human sexuality, thought that what was said was all equally important but she feels that she’s a little more optimistic about sex in today’s society than Klein seemed to be.

“I’m from North Carolina,” said Shafer, “and even there people have become more and more open to sexuality.”

Mark Rose, the only baby boomer in the audience, strongly agreed with what Klein had to say, but did have one minor concern.

“Dr. Klein was very entertaining and is dealing critically with very important issues, but he’s just preaching to the choir here,” he said.

So for those who don’t sing in this particular choir, Klein offered a few special words.

“Every generation takes for granted privileges that previous generations fought for,” he said. “In 2007 that included not only birth control and abortion, but also the right to read an article about sexuality.”

“So I urge all students to look at websites of organizations devoted to restricting their rights to express sexuality,” said Klein.

For more information about Dr. Marty Klein and his research go to www.sexualintelligence.wordpress.com or www.sexed.org