Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies
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Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies Breaking new ground, both substantively and stylistically, the Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies offers students, academics, and researchers an accessible, engaging introduction and overview of this emerging field. The central premise of the volume 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 has been built around a collection of newly commissioned articles, essays and interviews with leading scholars, consisting of: ■ over 50 short and original essays on the key topics and themes in sexuality studies; ■ 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. The Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies will be an invaluable resource to all those with an interest in sexuality studies. Steven Seidman is Professor of Sociology at the State University of New York at Albany. He is the author of, among other books, Romantic Longings: Love in America, 1830–1980 (Routledge, 1991), Embattled Eros: Sexual Politics and Ethics in America (Routledge, 1992), Difference Troubles: Queering Social Theory and Sexual Politics (1997), Beyond the Closet (Routledge, 2002), and The Social Construction of Sexuality (2003). He co-edited Social Postmodernism: Beyond Identity Politics (1995), and edited Queer Theory/Sociology (1996) and the Lesbian and Gay Reader (2002). Nancy L. Fischer is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology Department at Augsburg College, Minneapolis. Her research and teaching are in the areas of urban sociology, sexuality, law, and culture. Chet Meeks is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Georgia State University. His interests include contemporary social theory, sexuality studies, and cultural sociology. Routledge International Handbooks Handbook of Contemporary European Social Theory Gerard Delanty (2005) Handbook of Restorative Justice Dennis Sullivan and Larry Tifft (2005) Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology Massimiano Bucchi and Bruce V. Lewenstein – forthcoming Handbook of the New Sexuality Studies Edited by Steven Seidman Nancy Fischer Chet Meeks LONDON AND NEW YORK First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “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.” © 2006 Steven Seidman, Nancy Fischer and Chet Meeks for editorial matter and selection; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-96308-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-38648-9 (Print Edition) ISBN13: 978-0-415-38648-7 Contents Acknowledgments ix General introduction x 1 Part 1: Sex as a social fact 1 Theoretical perspectives 4 Steven Seidman 2 The social construction of sexuality 16 Interview with Jeffrey Weeks 3 Surveying sex 24 Interview with Edward Laumann 30 Part 2: Sexual meanings 4 Sex and the family: the power of ideology 33 Maureen Sullivan 5 Romantic love 40 Interview with Eva Illouz 6 Sexual pleasure 49 Kelly James 7 Purity and pollution: sex as a moral discourse 56 Nancy L. Fischer 8 Sex and power 64 Kristen Barber 9 Gay and straight rites of passage 69 Chet Meeks 10 Coming out in Italy 78 Cirus Rinaldi and Claudio Cappotto 85 Part 3: Sexual bodies and behaviors 11 Medicine and the making of a sexual body 88 Celia Roberts 12 Sexualizing Asian male bodies 97 Travis S. K. Kong 13 Sex and the senior woman 103 Meika Loe 14 Polishing the pearl: discoveries of the clitoris 109 Lisa Jean Moore 15 Orgasm 114 Juliet Richters 16 Anal sex: phallic and other meanings 121 Simon Hardy 17 Sexual intercourse 129 Kerwin Kaye 18 Viagra and the coital imperative 135 Nicola Gavey 142 Part 4: Sexual identities 19 Straight men 145 James J. Dean 20 Lesbians 154 Interview with Tamsin Wilton 21 The disappearance of the homosexual 163 Interview with Henning Bech 22 The bisexual menace revisited: or, shaking up social categories is hard to do 169 Kristin G. Esterberg 23 Bisexualities in America 177 Interview with Paula C. Rodríguez Rust 24 Transgendering: challenging the “normal” 186 Kimberly Tauches 25 Transsexual, transgender, and queer 193 Interview with Viviane Namaste 26 Multiple identities: race, class, and gender in lesbian and gay affirming 201 Protestant congregations Krista McQueeney 209 Part 5: Sexual institutions and sexual commerce 27 One is not born a bride: how weddings regulate heterosexuality 212 Chrys Ingraham 28 Change and continuity in American marriage 217 Erica Hunter 29 Shopping for love: online dating and the making of a cyber culture of 223 romance Sophia DeMasi 30 Conflicts at the tubs: bathhouses and gay culture and politics in the United 233 States Jason Hendrickson 31 Sexual tourism 240 Interview with Julia O’Connell Davidson 32 Sex sells, but what else does it do? The American porn industry 248 Chris Pappas 33 Sex workers 256 Interview with Wendy Chapkis 34 Condoms in the global economy 264 Peter Chua 269 Part 6: Sexual cultures 35 The body, disability, and sexuality 271 Thomas J. Gerschick 36 Internet sex: the seductive “freedom to” 281 Dennis D. Waskul 37 Gay men dancing: circuit parties 290 Russell Westhaver 38 The time of the sadomasochist: hunting with(in) the “tribus” 299 Darren Langdridge 39 Sex and young Japanese heterosexual men 308 Genaro Castro-Vázquez 40 Sex and rock ’n’ roll 315 Interview with Mimi Schippers 41 Secret sex and the down low brotherhood 320 Justin Luc Hoy 42 Wait … hip hop sexualities 324 Thomas F. DeFrantz 43 Feederism: a new sexual pleasure and subculture 331 Dina Giovanelli and Natalie M. Peluso 338 Part 7: Sexual regulation and inequality 44 Sexuality, state, and nation 340 Jyoti Puri 45 The sexual rights of women and homosexuals in Iran 348 Hamid Parnian 46 The marriage contract 353 Mary Bernstein 47 Popular culture constructs sexuality 360 Interview with Joshua Gamson 48 Christianity and the regulation of sexuality in the United States 365 Joshua Grove 49 Law and the regulation of the obscene 372 Phoebe Christina Godfrey 50 Schools and the social control of sexuality 381 Melinda S. Miceli 51 Healing (disorderly) desire: medical-therapeutic regulation of sexuality 390 P. J. McGann 52 Therapeutic institutions 403 Christopher Grant Kelly 53 Gender and the organization of heterosexual intimacy 408 Daniel Santore 54 Sexual politics in intimate relationships: sexual coercion and harassment 414 Lisa K. Waldner 55 Sexual and racial violence and American masculinity 423 Evelyn A. Clark 430 Part 8: Sexual politics 56 Gay marriage. Why now? Why at all? 433 Reese Kelly 57 Gay men and lesbians in the Netherlands 440 Gert Hekma and Jan Willem Duyvendak 58 Queering the family 446 Mary C. Burke and Kristine A. Olsen 59 The pro-family movement 454 Tina Fetner 60 Covenant marriage: reflexivity and retrenchment in the politics of intimacy 462 Dwight Fee 61 The politics of AIDS: sexual pleasure and danger 469 Jennifer Gunsaullus 62 The US Supreme Court and the politics of gay and lesbian rights 477 Gregory Maddox 63 Gender and sexual politics: American gay rights and feminist movements 488 Megan Murphy 64 Politics of sex education 493 Interview with Janice M. Irvine 65 Sex workers’ rights movements 499 Danielle Antoinette Hidalgo Index 504 Acknowledgments We would like to thank the authors who contributed to this volume for their commitment and the seriousness with which they approached their work. To be frank, we were overwhelmed by the positive response to this project and by the willingness of these authors to really work to get the right tone and theme. It has been deeply satisfying for each of us to work with authors who wrote thoughtful, very smart yet highly readable essays. We take this as a sign of the collective commitment to the idea of a new sexuality studies. A special thanks to Gerhard Boomgarden, our editor, for trusting our vision of a different kind of book. General introduction In the last few decades, there has been a revolution in the study of sexuality. Sex is today understood as fundamentally social. The aspects of sex that scholars – and ordinary folks – are most interested in, such as issues of desire, pleasure, identity, norms of sexual behavior, and intimate arrangements, are today recognized by the leading scholars in the field as social phenomena. This deep sociology of sexualities is what we call the new sexuality studies. It wasn’t too long ago that most Americans and Europeans viewed sexuality as natural. In America and Europe, scientists such as sexologists, psychologists, demographers, and medical researchers believed that sex was built into the body, into human genetics, hormones, into the very physiology of individuals.