ABSTRACT
Through colonialism and globalization, Buddhism has developed an in creasing profile in the West. This can be observed within popular culture as well as the presence of Buddhist practitioners from a range of ethnici ties of whom a significant number are converts. This presence has led to the development of Buddhist new religious movements (NRMs). We first outline interpretations of gender and sexuality that have arisen within Buddhist traditions. Then, using Linda Woodhead's (2007) model that theorises religion's positioning with respect to gender, we discuss gender norms that have developed for two of the largest Buddhist NRMs in the UK: the Triratna Buddhist Community (TBC, formerly the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order, FWBO) and the Nichiren group Söka-Gakkai Intemational-UK (SGI-UK). Through examining new empirical data, we
1. Sally R. Munt is Professor of Cultural and Gender Studies at the University of Sussex, and is the co-author, with Kath A. Browne and Andrew K. T. Yip of Queer Spiritual Spaces: Sexuality and Sacred Places (Ashgate, 2010). She is the author or editor of many books including Queer Attachments: The Cultural Politics of Shame (Ashgate, 2007) and the forthcoming (with Olu Jenzen) Ashgate Research Companion to Paranor mal Cultures (2013). Sally is also a BABCP accredited psychotherapist.
