ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on a comprehensive multi-method empirical research, which has put gay male and bisexual non-monogamous relationship practice at the centre of its inquiry. Over recent years, some observers have adopted a more optimistic tone in their discussion of sexual politics in Britain. The attempts of the New Right Government throughout the 1980s and early 1990s to forge a conservative hegemony through the combination of neo-liberal politics with social and moral authoritarianism were doomed to fail, Weeks declares confidently. Progressive social movement politics on gender and sexuality have succeeded in breaking the absolute hegemony of traditionalist normative discourses on sexual morality. New Labours politics of strengthening families sits uneasily with its declared commitment to diversity, equality and multiculturalism. The generalisation of the pure relationship carries the promises of true emotional democracy.