The second edition of this text includes the most up-to-date social scientific research on sexuality, the most current statistics available, new photos and images, as well as coverage of the latest political developments, including the #metoo movement, the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and the rollback of rights for transgender service members, among other topics. Included in this second edition is an entirely new chapter, “Social Class, Space, Place, and Sexuality.” This new chapter introduces Marx’s theoretical contributions toward understandings of class and how they apply to sexuality studies, the relationship between capitalism, colonialism, and sexuality, and how social class influences sexual behaviors and access to sexual rights. It also discusses the ways space and place intersect with sexuality, particularly in terms of sexual globalization and migration, and the ways sexual and gender minorities ‘make place’ in urban, rural, and suburban contexts. Additionally, this new edition offers a section on the science of monogamy, coverage of sexuality and transgender, gender nonbinary, and intersex persons, an analysis of the ways corporations have shifted their perspectives on LGBTQ rights over the last fifty years, parent’s responses to gender nonconforming children, sex worker mobilization and activism, and coverage of the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women across North America. Finally, new sections on stratified reproduction, health disparities, reproductive exclusion, racialized mothering, and obstetric racism are included. This textbook takes a sociological approach to the study of sexualities and is designed to be a core text for “Sociology of Sexuality,” “Human Sexuality,” and similar courses. Taking a sociological approach to the study of sexualities requires an exploration of sexuality as a social construction; the emergence of sexual and gender identities; a focus on intersectionality; the ways sexuality intersects with social class, space, and place; historical and current inequalities and discrimination faced by sexual and gender minorities; heterosexual and cisgender privilege; activism/mobilization to challenge such discrimination; and the ways sexuality operates in and through various institutions, such as media, schools, family, religion, sport, and the workplace. This text includes chapters on the science of sexuality, from early sexologists to queer theory; coverage of issues facing transgender people; an exploration of sexual health, disability and sexuality, and sexually transmitted infections; and reproduction. There are chapters on social problems associated with sexuality such as the commodification of sexuality, including pornography, human trafficking, and prostitution; prison sex; and sexual violence. Finally, every chapter includes a boxed insert that explores a global, transnational perspective related to the specific chapter topic. This text is designed for students to learn the fundamental concepts of a sociological approach to understanding sexualities and gender, and to be able to integrate such knowledge into their broader understanding of society. An intersectional approach that considers multiple grounds of identity and the ways various modes of oppression intersect and work together in society is consistently woven throughout this book. No sexuality textbook on the market takes such a comprehensive sociological approach to the study of sexualities. |
SexualitY as:
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8 key Features |
5 ways this book is unique |
1. Sexuality, Inequality, and Discrimination--This topic is absent from most of the sexuality readers and textbooks, yet this is where students “see” lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in their daily lives. What is less visible to students is the extent of inequalities LGBTQ individuals historically faced and continue to face, and other forms of discrimination related to sexuality, such as discrimination against pregnant women and sex workers. Certainly throughout the lifetimes of traditional-aged college students, the issue of marriage equality has been front and center, and, thus, it can appear that the fight for LGBTQ rights has been won. Yet, inequalities remain and newly won LGBTQ rights remain under threat and cannot be taken for granted. Additionally, heterosexual and cisgender privileges remain invisible. This text emphasizes a sociological approach to understanding status hierarchies, looking not only at groups that are disadvantaged but those that reap advantages as well.
—-- 2. Activism/Mobilization to Challenge Such Discrimination--This textbook explores not only inequalities sexual minorities face and heterosexual privilege, but the organized opposition to such discrimination. It is important for students to shake the misconception that progress is “inevitable” and, instead, is the result of decades of organized activism. This text explores LGBTQ activism, from the Compton Cafeteria riots, known as the first transgender riots, to the Stonewall riots, the fight for marriage equality, AIDS activism, and Queer Nation. This book weaves feminist and queer theoretical insights throughout to reveal how challenges to inequality in the streets are reflected and translated in academia, and vice versa. —-- 3. Sexuality and Societal Institutions--This is the only sexuality textbook on the market that explores the ways sexuality operates in and through institutions, such as sports, media, schools, workplaces, family, and religion. By exploring institutions, students again find a way to “see” the inequalities attached to sexuality in their daily lives. For instance, many traditional-aged college students witnessed or participated in battles to allow LGBTQ student organizations (or Gay-Straight Alliances) on their middle-school or high-school campuses. Their generation came of age during significant cultural battles over sex education versus abstinence education. Some of them may work in environments that discriminate against sexual minorities. Some of them come from gay families. They are also the first generation of Americans to come of age as the first gay professional athletes chose to come out of the closet during their athletic careers. This generation of students has also been exposed to a proliferation of gay images in the media. —-- 4. Focus on Transgender People and Issues--Each chapter of this textbook includes the latest research on transgender people and issues; from the incorporation of intersex and transgender athletes into a gender segregated sports world to discrimination against transgender individuals in the workplace, and epidemic levels of violence directed at transgender people, overwhelmingly transgender people of color. —-- 5. Sexual Identities--The invention of heterosexuality and homosexuality involved the emergence of sexual identities—for the first time, people’s sexual behaviors defined a “kind of person.” While this resulted in new forms of discrimination against sexual minorities, it also contributed to the mobilization of LGBTQ individuals to combat their inequality. As just one aspect of how we see ourselves, sexual identities are also understood to intersect with other identities, such as gender, race, and class, informing how individuals see themselves. Much sociological research addresses the ways individuals construct and negotiate multiple identities. —-- 6. Sexual Health--This text takes a sociological approach to understanding sexual health, including a critical discussion of the emergence of female sexual dysfunction, to an exploration of disability and sexuality, and a discussion of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, from a sociological perspective. Finally, we explore reproduction, from compulsory reproduction to the commodification of birth and stratified reproduction, transgender men and childbirth, and the increasing availability of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs), and what these have meant for LGBTQ families. —-- 7. Social Problems Associated With Sexuality--Sociologists have long contributed to sexuality studies, including research on sexual assault, rape, pornography, sex trafficking, child sexual abuse, and prison sex—with feminist sociologists placing questions of power at the center of such analyses. Additionally, this text explores sexual violence targeting the LGBTQ community, intimate partner violence within same-sex relationships, and sexuality and militarism. —-- 8. Global/Transnational Perspectives on Sexuality--Each chapter includes a boxed insert highlighting a global illustration of one of the issues explored in the chapter. This helps students understand sexuality as a social construction that changes across time and place. |
1. Each chapter includes an exploration of social issues faced by transgender people, from identity struggles to transphobic violence.
2. To help students understand the social construction of sexuality, specifically how sexuality changes across time and place, boxed inserts exploring global/transnational perspectives on sexuality related to the chapter topic are embedded in each chapter. 3. This text includes coverage of sexual health, sexuality over the life cycle, disability and sexuality, sexually transmitted infections and reproduction. 4. Topical issues such as youth sexting, carceral sexuality, hook-up culture, hypersexualization of children in the media and more are included. 5. Includes valuable instructor resources such as a test bank and links to ASA Trail's teaching resources related to each chapter. Student resources such as a list of key terms and concepts, critical thinking questions, activites, essential readings, recommended films, and suggested multimedia are provided at the end of each chapter. |