SAN FRANCISCO (AP ) – Researchers here want to talk about sex, and not just the naughty bits.

Academics, social scientists and policy makers from around the world are gathering this week at San Francisco State University for a conference on human sexuality and the “moral panics” caused by such charged topics as homosexuality, abortion and sex education.

And while there’s plenty of talk about Hollywood, masturbation and all topics titillating, the premise is that ignorance and intolerance about sex have disastrous consequences – whether it’s an inadequate response to AIDS, the stigma suffered by rape survivors or teenagers having unsafe sex.

“Better sexuality education will raise public knowledge and lead to positive public policy,” said Gilbert Herdt, director of the National Sexuality Resource Center based at San Francisco State.

These are ticklish times for sexuality specialists – even as some scoff at the theory that Americans fed on “Sex and the City” and “Elim-a-Date” are undereducated on X-rated matters.

Herdt says he is on a mission to free Americans from the “packaged sex” Hollywood serves up and what he regards as Washington’s prudish sensibilities.

“The question isn’t is there enough sex around, it’s what kind of sex is around,” he said. “It’s meant to titillate, not educate.”

This is the first year the International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society has convened in the United States, and Herdt said the timing is right. While some Europeans get sex education in kindergarten, he notes, the subject is still controversial in American high schools.

Earlier this year, Herdt’s center launched a “Sexual Literacy Campaign” that uses the Internet to foster an open discussion about sexually charged topics.

On its Web site, SexLiteracy.org, a quiz asks such provocative questions are “Is there such a thing as having too much sex?” and “Is masturbation a healthy way to relieve stress?”

The papers to be presented at the conference, which runs from Tuesday through Saturday, all deal in some way with society’s squeamishness about sex. They cover such topics as abortion, transsexualism – and runaway brides.

Saskia Wieringa, the international association’s president, studies sexual politics in Indonesia and likens some strict Muslim traditions, such as forcing women to cover their faces in public, to many of President Bush’s conservative policies.

“They are both fighting against each other, but upholding the same kind of system,” Wieringa said.

In Indonesia, people are shying away from liberal dress codes that were always part of the culture.

“Women used to go around bare-breasted,” she said. “Now, there is a whole moral panic about the belly button that shouldn’t be shown.”