Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays and Interviews [Paperback]

'This is a wonderful collection of essays and interviews that provides many opportunities for lucky dips. Open it at random, and you will find a gem, nicely gift wrapped in cool analysis and calm commitment. But taken as a whole this is also a sustained  intervention in contemporary sexuality studies. Whilst recognizing the importance of the body, it avoids the trap of biological determinism and demonstrates the value of a perspective that is both social and historical. The book acknowledges the tremendous cultural transformations of the past generation that have broken down many of the old taboos, discriminations and prejudices. But the book is also a tribute to the new scholarship that has made it possible to understand sexualities in new ways.' - Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University. Author of The World We Have Won.

'Introducing the New Sexuality Studies is an unsurpassed introduction to one of the most exciting, cutting-edge fields of study. The reader documents a living, breathing field in motion, fueled by the efforts of social scientists across a number of different disciplines. Featuring short, synthetic articles on a wide variety of areas of interest, and interviews with many of the field's leading lights, the book will engage both undergraduate and graduate student audiences.' - Arlene Stein, Rutgers University.

'Introducing the New Sexuality Studies provides the very latest detailed and authoritative mapping of the twists and turns of scholarship embracing sexual lives, their meanings and cultures within the broadest possible international arena. Interviews with a dozen of the key contemporary sexual researchers serve as anchorage for the innovative articles in this volume, articulating both the analytic possibilities and the continuing cultural constraints of the sometimes-riskier sexual climates of the global contemporary. This collection is an indispensable companion for students and scholars travelling between disciplines hoping to find the best overviews of contemporary sexual knowledge and politics.' - Lynne Segal, author of Making Trouble: Life & Politics.

Breaking new ground, both substantively and stylistically, this book offers students, academics and researchers an accessible, engaging introduction and overview of this emerging field. Its central premise is to explore the social character of sexuality, the role of social differences such as race or nationality in creating sexual variation, and the ways sex is entangled in relations of power and inequality. Through this novel approach the field of sexuality is therefore considered, for the first time, in multicultural, global, and comparative terms and from a truly social perspective.

This important volume consists of over fifty short and original essays on the key topics and themes in sexuality studies, and interviews with twelve leading scholars in the field which convey some of the most innovative work being done. Each contribution is original and conveys the latest thinking and research in writing that is clear and that uses examples to illustrate key points.

This topical and timely volume will be an invaluable resource to all those with an interest in sexuality studies.