Revisiting Sexualities In The 21st Century

Sexual interactions are socially constructed within a historical, social and cultural milieu, and are continually defined and redefined accordingly depending on the surrounding economic, political, moral, and religious social forces. Although the human capacity for sexual expression spans a wide range of variations and permutations, it is nonetheless seriously confined, limited and restricted to only a few “acceptable” forms. Western style “sexual acceptability” is, in turn, determined by the prevailing white, heterosexual standards of patriarchy perpetuated through childhood masculine socialization and adolescent and adult machismo practices. Revisiting Sexualities in the 21st Century examines a whole set of explanatory and definitional issues from the very outset, particularly regarding what may be rightly included and excluded from its provenance and coverage. The contributors to this book are brought together from three different methodological spheres: qualitative, quantitative, and historical/comparative. Each author lays out the traditional parameters of the methodology used in their perspectives of social science research, and openly discusses how they have been applied to the study of hetero sexuality/non-heterosexuality and the ways in which their theory and methodology may be improved. Their contributions outline some of the major theoretical and methodological problems that still confront the study of modern sexualities, while also presenting a selection of theoretical and methodological issues of interest to both new and experienced researchers. This anthology identifies the need in contemporary social and cultural studies for more elaborate understandings of the relations of various masculinities and femininities to power, nation, empire, violence, race, class, and embodiment, and, in doing so, brings together an eclectic, multidisciplinary, and wide-ranging collection of essays. The various contributions to this book will appeal to social scientists (especially sociologists, psychologists and sexologists), biomedical scientists, health professionals and other academic and professional audiences, and students, researchers and instructors of sexuality studies. Undoubtedly, with this collection, sexuality studies comes of age as an academic field.

Exploring sexuality in the twenty-first century, this unique book collects together more than fifty timely and accessible contributions to create a wide-ranging and compelling picture of contemporary American sexuality. Incorporating the latest cutting-edge controversies, theory and methodological material from the major domains of sexual education, sexual health, sexual rights, and globalization, this book includes a superb editorial overview that opens up the field for students and teachers alike. This anthology will be an invaluable supplement to all levels of students and researchers interested in sexuality across a range of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, gender and sexuality studies and politics.

Greek Cypriots, Turkish Cypriots, Maronites, Latins, and Armenians have been the primary historical communities that make up the multicultural landscape of Cyprus. However, the continuing conflict between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots has geographically, socially and psychologically segregated these communities, while the influx of economic migrants, especially after Cyprus’s accession to the EU in 2004, has, in turn, contributed to Cyprus’s challenges, arising from multiculturalism, in an altogether different perspective. How has education, over time, addressed and re-examined all these issues introduced by Cyprus’ complex evolving multiculturalism and ethnic diversity? How can education better attend to current problems of coexistence in Cyprus, and what kind of role can it play in a federal re-united country? This collection of essays introduces an innovative and critical examination of these questions in order to provide relevant answers. More specifically, it examines how formal, non-formal and informal education contributed to the creation and perpetuation of the Cyprus conflict, as well as to prejudices, inter-ethnic stereotypes, and misperceptions. The book also discusses how education could contribute to conflict transformation, empathy and peaceful coexistence amongst the different Cypriot communities, and how this has been possible in other multi-ethnic societies. The volume will be of interest to students, practitioners, and researchers interested in peace education, multiculturalism and conflict transformation.

To what extent does locality influence contemporary art? Can any particular artistic practices be defined as uniquely Cypriot? And does art from Cyprus transcend Western boundaries once it enters the global art scene? This volume uses Cyprus as a case study for the exploration of notions of identity, regionalism, and the global and local in contemporary art practice; it is not, therefore, a complete historiography of contemporary Cypriot art. Rather, this critical text provides a theoretical and historical framework that frames and contextualizes art practices from Cyprus, while always relating these back to the international art world. Numerous current and pressing issues-all relevant beyond Cyprus-are investigated in this book including, but not limited to, art as capital, the emergence of the “periphery”, the importance of thriving localities, issues of memory and memorialization, archaeology, artists' identities, conflict and politics, social engagement, gender politics, and such curatorial alternatives as artist-run spaces. In doing all of this, Contemporary Art from Cyprus not only bears on current and future art practices in this region but highlights the importance of Cypriot art in a global context too.

For young Englishwomen stepping off the steamer, the sights and sounds of humid colonial India were like nothing they’d ever experienced. For many, this was the ultimate destination to find a perfect civil servant husband. For still more, however, India offered a chance to fling off the shackles of Victorian social mores. The word ‘memsahib’ conjures up visions of silly aristocrats, well-staffed bungalows and languorous days at the club. Yet these women had sought out the uncertainties of life in Britain’s largest, busiest colony. Memsahibs introduces readers to the likes of Flora Annie Steel, Fanny Parks and Emily Eden, accompanying their husbands on expeditions, travelling solo across dangerous terrain, engaging with political questions, and recording their experiences. Yet the Raj was not all adventure. There was disease, and great risk to young women travelling alone; for colonial wives in far-flung outposts, there was little access to ‘society’. Cut off from modernity and the Western world, many women suffered terrible trauma and depression. From the hill-stations to the capital, this is a sweeping, vividly written anthology of colonial women’s lives across British India. Their honesty and bravery, in their actions and their writings, shine fresh light on this historical world.

This thoughtful and accessible book provides a critical examination of the central debates attached to conceptualizing sexuality as a site of knowledge and politics. These are explored in chapters on the meaning of heterosexuality, sexual citizenship and the associated notions of sexual rights and obligations, queer theory and its relationship with feminisms, both `new' and `old'. Also included is discussion of responses to the HIV//AIDS epidemic and the implications for understandings of gender and sexuality.

This special issue ofGLQcelebrates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Gayle Rubin's groundbreaking essay, "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality." Credited with inaugurating the contemporary field of sexuality studies, Rubin's essay calls for an "autonomous theory and politics specific to sexuality." Looking at the intellectual and political gains of sexual freedom movements over the past two decades,Rethinking Sexexplores the critical and activist afterlife of the controversial 1982 Barnard College Conference on Sexuality, where Rubin originally presented the essay. In her contribution to this special issue, Rubin reflects on her earlier essay and examines developments in "pro-sex" feminism since the publication of "Thinking Sex." Other noted scholars assess the significance of Rubin's work for histories of sexuality and for new areas in queer studies, such as transgender studies, disability studies, and transnational studies. In honouring Rubin's scholarship, The contributors address the history of sexual theory and politics And The forms that they might take in the twenty-first century. Contributors: Lisa Duggan; Stephen Epstein; Lisa Henderson; Neville Hoad; Sharon Holland; Regina Kunzel; Robert McRuer; Joanne Meyerowitz; Gayle Rubin; Susan Stryker; Carole Vance; Contributors; Jeff Chang; Vivien Goldman; Jennifer Kabat; Mark Katz; Josh Kun; Barbara London; Mac McCaughan; Carlo McCormick; Charlie McGovern ; Mark Anthony Neal; Piotr Orlov; Luc Sante; Trevor Schoonmaker; Dave Tompkins

This book brings together a group of innovative scholars examining the contemporary issue of effecting gender and sexuality justice in the context of Asia, consonant with engendering a just, equitable and sustainable development for all. These grassroots initiatives are woven through three complementary sections of the book: gender justice in Asia, sexuality justice in Asia, and finding resolutions through conflict. The book foregrounds strategies that aim to call out and challenge existing gender and sexuality injustices with regard to women and the LGBTIQA+ community by: assessing the efficacy of gender mainstreaming policies through micro-credit schemes for women in East Java, Indonesia; proliferating the signifiers of the hijab (veil) by postmodern Malay-Muslim women or ‘Hijabistas’ within the consumerist culture of Malaysia; making visible the injustices of the Syariah legal system for non-Muslim women, and ground-breaking legislation that could potentially recognise same-sex marriages in Thailand; privileging the narratives of gay women diplomats within the highly masculinised field of diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific region; foregrounding the narratives of Filipino gay men, intimate partner violence among young Indonesian Christian young people, masculine-identifying lesbians in Singapore, young LGBT people in rural Vietnam, and a Chinese-Muslim Malaysian female-to-male transgender person; and proposing new ways of becoming an inclusive church through the radical act of befriending persons living with HIV and AIDS in Southeast Asia. This book celebrates diverse and inclusive voices and strategies of gender and sexual agents of change in envisioning and bringing to fruition a just and transformative society for all. It is of interest to students and scholars researching gender and sexuality in areas of development studies, international relations, socio-legal studies, and literary studies.