Sexualities current issue

'That's Not Really My Scene': Working-Class Lesbians In (and Out of) Place

Taylor, Y. — 2008-09-10

In this article I consider working-class lesbians' views and experiences of commercialized scene space as these venues change in light of social, economic and political developments. Working-class lesbians both participated in and felt excluded from scene spaces, often criticizing them as 'pretentious' and 'unreal' for their cosmopolitan gloss. In this upgrading a politicized perspective was believed to have been sacrificed or in jeopardy, threatened by gendered and classed consumer-based expectations and inhabitations. The reproduction of such space via regeneration and sophistication mediates the construction of lesbian styles, appearances and identities, demarcating boundaries of inclusion across time and place. Interviewees spoke of scene developments and changes with a sense of loss, even nostalgia; their descriptions frequently conjured up binaries of now/then, political/apolitical, marginal/mainstream, metropolitan/provincial — producing an uneasy situation in and out of place. Such positionings illustrate material, embodied and felt exclusions, and tenuous inclusions, as this space is negotiated, contested and rejected.

Making Space for an Agentic Sexuality? The Examination of a Lesbian/Queer Bathhouse

Hammers, C. J. — 2008-09-10

Although an extensive body of work exists exploring the relationships between space and gender, gender performance and identity, little attention has been given to examining the space-agency nexus of lesbian/queer subjects in sexed spaces — this is particularly the case when it comes to exploring lesbian/queer sexualities. Drawing on face-to-face interviews and observations, I examine participants' experiences at Pussy Palace, a lesbian/queer bathhouse in Toronto, Canada, focusing in particular on the ways in which the space enabled and constrained spatial praxis and agency. I conclude that the embodied desire found at Pussy Palace undermines the hegemonic discourse that treats women as passive and subjugating subjects. At the same time, the bathhouse erects its own marginalizing forces, while fostering a particular training of the body that narrows the range of emergent sexualities and alternative sexual scripts.

'They Think You Shouldn't be Having Sex Anyway': Young People's Suggestions for Improving Sexuality Education Content

Allen, L. — 2008-09-10

It has been recognized that to be effective, sexuality education must meet the needs and interests of young people (Aggleton and Campbell, 2000). However, this acknowledgement has often manifested in adults ultimately determining what young people's needs and interests are. This article focuses on what senior school students determine as important and relevant programme content from focus group and survey data. Participants' suggestions provide a critique of current sexuality education provision that is clinical, de-eroticized and didactic. Young people's calls for content about emotions in relationships, teenage parenthood, abortion and how to make sexual activity pleasurable offer insights into how they understand themselves as sexual subjects. Student responses position them as having the right to make their own decisions about sexual activity and to access knowledge that will enable their engagement in relationships that are physically and emotionally pleasurable. This positioning sits in conflict with the preferred non-sexual identity young people are offered by the official culture of many schools (Allen, 2007). It is proposed that this tension has implications for how programmes constitute student sexuality and their effectiveness in empowering young people to view their sexuality positively and make positive sexual decisions.

'No More Tea, Vicar'. An Exploration of the Discourses which Inform the Current Debates about Sexualities within the Church of England

Nixon, D. — 2008-09-10

This article seeks to discover, problematize and deconstruct the powerful discourses that have informed the recent debates within the Church of England (and other churches) in the area of human sexuality, and of homosexuality in particular. Poststructuralist methodology reveals that the sexualities' discourse of the Church of England is structured around themes of purity/pollution and text/authority, which operate powerfully to police the theorization and practice of both individuals and the social body of the church. The instantiation of this discourse in the lives of individuals is illustrated by an analysis of two 'stories': the first, a biographical account of a particular incident in the life of one priest; the second draws on the published record of the difficulties raised by the appointment of Canon Jeffrey John as a bishop. In response to these findings, the author draws on theological traditions developed out of Queer Theory to suggest alternative ways of viewing sexualities, which are both more inclusive for LGBT people, and which may allow the churches to break through their current impasse.

Coming to an Asexual Identity: Negotiating Identity, Negotiating Desire

Scherrer, K. S. — 2008-09-10

Sexuality is generally considered an important aspect of selfhood. Therefore, individuals who do not experience sexual attraction, and who embrace an asexual identity, are in a unique position to inform the social construction of sexuality. This study explores the experiences of asexual individuals utilizing open ended internet survey data from 102 self-identified asexual people. In this article I describe several distinct aspects of asexual identities: the meanings of sexual, and therefore, asexual behaviors, essentialist characterizations of asexuality, and lastly, interest in romance as a distinct dimension of sexuality. These findings have implications not only for asexual identities, but also for the connections of asexuality with other marginalized sexualities.

Book Review: C. J. Pascoe, Dude, You're a Fag. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007. xii + 227 pp. ISBN 978-0-520-24862-5 {pound}11.95 (pbk). ISBN 978-0-520-25230-1 {pound}29.95 (hbk)

Taulke-Johnson, R. — 2008-09-10

Book Review: Niels Teunis and Gilbert Herdt (eds), Sexual Inequalities and Social Justice. Berkeley: University of California Press ,2007. ISBN 978-0-520-24614-0 {pound}32.95 (hbk).ISBN 978-0-520-24615-7 {pound}12.95 (pbk)

Williams, C. H. — 2008-09-10

Book Review: Sally Hines, Transforming Gender: Transgender Practices of Identity, Intimacy and Care. Bristol: The Policy Press,2007.227 pp.ISBN 978-1-86134-9170 {pound}24.99 (pbk).ISBN 978-1-86134-9163 {pound}60.00 (hbk)

Elliot, P. — 2008-09-10

Book Review: Paul Rutherford, A World Made Sexy: Freud to Madonna. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. 371 pp. ISBN 978-0-8020-9466-7 (pbk). {pound} 17.95

Amy-Chinn, D. — 2008-09-10

Book Review: Sharon Marcus, Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2007. 356 pp. ISBN 13: 978--0--691--12835--1 {pound}11.95 (pbk).ISBN 13:978--0--691--12820--7 {pound}38.95 (hbk)

Hindmarch-Watson, K. — 2008-09-10

Book Review: Suzanna Danuta Walters, All the Rage. The Story of Gay Visibility in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,2001. 338 pp.ISBN 0-226-87231-9. $19.00

Porfido, G. — 2008-09-10