ABSTRACT
In relation to other disciplines, geography has been fairly late in developing an interest in the construction of sexual identities and differences. Although traditionally regarded as ‘squeamish’ about sexual matters, recent research by geographers has begun to demonstrate that space is inevitably sexed in a variety of complex ways, placing issues of sex and sexuality firmly on the geographical agenda. While sexuality and gender have long been acknowledged as two of the most basic narratives through which identities are forged, these concepts have proved highly contested and sometimes divisive, a source of often intense debate in popular and academic discourse. Clearly, the relationship between sex, gender and sexuality has been the subject of much debate, with obvious tensions existing between different explanations of the production of sexualities. However, in the light of queer theory and post-structuralist debates on identity politics, ideas about neatly integrated and stable sex/gender identities seem to fall apart.
