Introducing the New Sexuality Studies

588 Pages·2011·3.18 MB·English

by  Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer, Chet Meeks

Introducing the
New Sexuality Studies
Breakingnewground,bothsubstantivelyandstylistically,theIntroducingtheNewSexualityStudies,
Second edition offers students and academics an engaging thought-provoking introduction and
overview of the social study of sexualities. Its central premise is to explore the social construc-
tion of sexuality, the role of social differences such as race or nationality in creating sexual var-
iation, and the ways sex is entangled in relations of power and inequality. Through this
approachthefieldofsexualityisconsideredinmulticultural,global,andcomparativeterms,and
from a truly social perspective.
The second edition of this definitive textbook consists of over seventy-five short, original
essaysonthekeytopicsandthemesinsexualitystudies.Italsoincludesinterviewswithfourteen
leading scholars in the field, which convey some of the most innovative work currently being
undertaken. Each contribution is original, presenting the latest thinking and research in clear
and accessible terms, using engaging examples to illustrate key points.
Steven Seidman is a Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Albany.
His books include Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830–1980 (Routledge, 1991), Embattled
Eros:SexualPoliticsandEthicsinAmerica(Routledge,1992),BeyondtheCloset(Routledge,2002),
and The Social Construction of Sexuality (W. W. Norton & Co, 2003).
Nancy L. Fischer is an Associate Professor of Sociology, and the Director of Metro-Urban
Studies at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is a former chair of the American
Sociological Association’s Section on Sexualities. She has written about incest, urban sustain-
ability,andiscurrently workingonaprojectonthesocialmeaningofsecond handandvintage
clothing.
Chet Meeks was an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Georgia State University in Atlanta,
Georgia. He was a queer theorist and taught courses in Sociology of Sexuality and Social
Theory at Georgia State (and previously at Northern Illinois University). His published works
include‘CivilSocietyandtheSexualPoliticsofDifference’publishedinSociologicalTheoryaswell
as the co-edited Handbook of New Sexuality Studies (Routledge, 2006). He passed away in 2008.

Introducing the New
Sexuality Studies
Second Edition
Edited by Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer
and Chet Meeks
Firstpublished2011
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
270MadisonAve,NewYork,NY10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011.
To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
© 2011 Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer and Chet Meeks for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of the editors to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the
authorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections77and78
oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilizedinany
formorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,
includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,
withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregisteredtrademarks,and
areusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Introducingthenewsexualitystudies/editedbyStevenSeidman,NancyFischerandChet
Meeks.–2nded.
p.cm.
Previouslypublishedundertitle:Newsexualitystudies.
1.Sex.2.Sex–Socialaspects.3.Sexualorientation.4.Sexandlaw.5.Sexology.I.
Seidman,Steven.II.Fischer,Nancy.III.Meeks,Chet.IV.Newsexualitystudies.
HQ21.H32342011
306.7–dc22
2010036791
ISBN 978-0-415-78125-1(hbk)
ISBN 978-0-415-78156-8 (pbk)
ISBN 978-0-203-82983-7 (ebk)
ISBN 0-203-82983-2 Master e-book ISBN
This edition is dedicated to the memory of Chet Meeks,
our co-editor, co-contributor and dear friend.
We also dedicate this edition to the memory of Tamsin Wilton,
scholar, activist and contributor to this volume.
Their potential contributions to the study of sexualities is a true loss
to the field.

Contents
Acknowledgments xiv
General introduction xv
PART1
Sex as a social fact 1
1 Theoretical perspectives 3
Steven Seidman
2 The social construction of sexuality 13
Interview with Jeffrey Weeks
3 Surveying sex 20
Interview with Edward Laumann
PART2
Sexual meanings 25
4 Popular culture constructs sexuality 27
Interview with Joshua Gamson
5 Sexual pleasure 32
Kelly James
6 Purity and pollution: sex as a moral discourse 38
Nancy L. Fischer
7 Sex and power 45
Kristen Barber
8 Sexual politics in intimate relationships: sexual coercion and harassment 49
Lisa K. Waldner
vii
Contents
9 Gay and straight rites of passage 57
Chet Meeks
PART3
Sexual bodies and behaviors 65
10 Medicine and the making of a sexual body 67
Celia Roberts
11 The body, disability, and sexuality 75
Thomas J. Gerschick
12 Sexualizing Asian male bodies 84
Travis S. K. Kong
13 Sex and the senior woman 89
Meika Loe
14 Polishing the pearl: discoveries of the clitoris 95
Lisa Jean Moore
15 Orgasm 100
Juliet Richters
16 Anal sex: phallic and other meanings 106
Simon Hardy
17 Sexual intercourse 113
Kerwin Kaye
18 Viagra and the coital imperative 119
Nicola Gavey
PART4
Gender and sexuality 125
19 Unruly bodies: intersex variations of sex development 127
Sharon E. Preves
20 Transgendering: challenging the “normal” 134
Kimberly Tauches
21 Transsexual, transgender, and queer 140
Interview with Viviane Namaste
viii
Contents
22 Gender and heterosexism in rock-and-roll 148
Interview with Mimi Schippers
23 Adolescent girls’ sexuality: the more it changes, the more it stays the same 153
Deborah L. Tolman
24 Not “straight,” but still a “man”: negotiating non-heterosexual masculinities
in Beirut 159
Ghassan Moussawi
25 How not to talk about Muslim women: patriarchy, Islam and the sexual
regulation of Pakistani women 166
Saadia Toor
26 “Guys are just homophobic”: rethinking adolescent homophobia
and heterosexuality 175
C. J. Pascoe
27 Mis-conceptions about unintended pregnancy: considering context in sexual
and reproductive decision-making 183
Jennifer A. Reich
PART5
Intimacies 191
28 Romantic love 193
Interview with Eva Illouz
29 Gender and the organization of heterosexual intimacy 201
Daniel Santore
30 Shopping for love: online dating and the making of a cyber culture of
romance 206
Sophia DeMasi
31 Covenant marriage: reflexivity and retrenchment in the politics of intimacy 215
Dwight Fee
32 Interracial romance: the logic of acceptance and domination 221
Kumiko Nemoto
33 Lesbian and gay parents: situated subjects 229
Yvette Taylor
ix