ABSTRACT
Words, Freud once wrote, are magic. Nowhere have words been more magical than in the writing of sexuality. Through words and concepts we learn what is good or bad, pleasurable or painful, significant and insignificant. The terms we use about sexuality do not simply describe something out there. They help shape what sexuality is.
The Languages of Sexuality offers concise and incisive essays on key words and concepts which have played a significant role in shaping our understanding of contemporary sexualities and intimacies. Nearly a hundred essays illuminate the terms related to sexuality in fresh, and often unexpected ways, with entries ranging from ‘abjection’ and ‘abortion’ to ‘transgender and ‘Viagra’. Written with clarity, insight and passion by an internationally renowned theorist of sexuality, this book is not only an invaluable handbook, but also a personal exploration of the fluid, shifting, ever evolving meanings of sexual life as reflected and refracted through words and concepts.
This book is an invaluable resource for both students and researchers with interests relating to sexuality and intimate life, gender studies, cultural studies, history and sociology. It will also appeal to a wider audience interested in critical debates about the nature and meanings of contemporary sexualities.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
letter A|11 pages
A
entry |2 pages
Abjection
entry |4 pages
Abortion
entry |3 pages
Agency
entry |4 pages
AIDS
letter B|10 pages
B
entry |2 pages
Barebacking
entry |4 pages
Bisexuality
entry |2 pages
Blackmail
entry |3 pages
Bodies
letter C|17 pages
C
entry |3 pages
Childhood Sexuality
entry |3 pages
Choice
entry |3 pages
Closet
entry |3 pages
Commodification
entry |3 pages
Community
entry |3 pages
Consent
entry |2 pages
Cosmopolitanism
entry |3 pages
Cybersex
letter D|4 pages
D
entry |3 pages
Desire
entry |2 pages
Disability
letter E|3 pages
E
entry |3 pages
Essentialism
letter F|17 pages
F
entry |3 pages
Families
entry |3 pages
Fateful Moments
entry |3 pages
Femininity
entry |5 pages
Feminism
entry |3 pages
Fetish
entry |3 pages
Friendship
entry |3 pages
Fundamentalism
letter G|14 pages
G
entry |2 pages
Gay
entry |4 pages
Gay Liberation
entry |4 pages
Gender
entry |3 pages
Globalization
entry |3 pages
Great Transition
letter H|15 pages
H
entry |3 pages
Habitus
entry |4 pages
Heterosexuality
entry |2 pages
Homophobia
entry |4 pages
Homosexuality
entry |4 pages
Human Sexual Rights
entry |2 pages
Hybridity
letter I|9 pages
I
entry |2 pages
Individualization
entry |3 pages
Informalization
entry |3 pages
Intersectionality
entry |3 pages
Intimacy
letter L|6 pages
L
entry |4 pages
Lesbian
entry |3 pages
Love
letter M|17 pages
M
entry |4 pages
Marriage
entry |4 pages
Masculinity
entry |3 pages
Masturbation
entry |3 pages
Melancholia
entry |3 pages
Mixedness
entry |3 pages
Moral Panic
entry |3 pages
Multiculturalism
letter N|3 pages
N
entry |3 pages
Neoliberalism
letter P|17 pages
P
entry |3 pages
Paedophilia
entry |3 pages
Perversion
entry |3 pages
Pleasure
entry |4 pages
Polyamory
entry |3 pages
Pornography
entry |3 pages
Prostitution
entry |3 pages
Psychoanalysis
letter Q|3 pages
Q
entry |3 pages
Queer
letter R|17 pages
R
entry |3 pages
Recognition
entry |2 pages
Reflexivity
entry |5 pages
Regulation
entry |3 pages
Relationality
entry |4 pages
Religion
entry |3 pages
Reproductive Technologies
entry |3 pages
Risk
letter S|49 pages
S
entry |3 pages
Sado-masochism
entry |2 pages
Safer Sex
entry |4 pages
Same-sex Marriage
entry |3 pages
Secularization
entry |2 pages
Sex Addiction
entry |3 pages
Sex Tourism
entry |3 pages
Sexology
entry |4 pages
Sexual Citizenship
entry |3 pages
Sexual Cultures
entry |3 pages
Sexual Diversity
entry |3 pages
Sexual Ethics
entry |4 pages
Sexual Identity
entry |4 pages
Sexual Orientation
entry |2 pages
Sexual Scripts
entry |3 pages
Sexual Stories
entry |3 pages
Sexual Violence
entry |3 pages
Sexuality
entry |2 pages
Sexualization
entry |4 pages
Social Capital
entry |5 pages
Social Constructionism
entry |3 pages
Space
entry |2 pages
Subject
letter T|6 pages
T
entry |2 pages
Toleration
entry |2 pages
Trafficking
entry |2 pages
Transgender
letter V|2 pages
V
entry |2 pages
Viagra