Sexuality: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Books / Paperback
Books › Psychology › Human Sexuality
ISBN: 0199298025 / Publisher: Oxford University Press, June 2008
Sex is everywhere in the modern world. But why is it so important to who we are? What shapes our sexuality and how does our sexuality shape us? What impact have feminism, religion, and HIV/AIDS had on our attitudes to sex?This Very Short Introduction examines these questions and more, exploring how sexual norms have changed throughout history, from self-castrating early Christians to modern-day born-again virgins, from sexual liberationists to lesbian separatists; and tackling the major controversies around sex and sexuality today: ideas on masculinity and femininity, paedophilia, gay politics, sex education, eugenics, and even the future of sex itself.
Read More
Is our sexuality determined primarily by our genes? Or is it shaped by the social norms and expectations we happen to be born into. This Very Short Introduction provides an accessible, thoughtful and thought-provoking introduction to major debates around sexuality in the modern world, highlighting the social and political aspects of sexuality. It critically explores different ways of defining and thinking about sexuality and shows that many of our assumptions about what is "natural" in the sexual domain have, in reality, varied greatly in different historical or cultural contexts. The volume also examines ways in which governments have tried to regulate citizens' sexualities in the past-through policies and laws concerning public health, HIV/Aids, prostitution, and sex education-paying special attention to the particular zeal with which women's sexuality has been policed. The volume concludes by discussing political activism around sexuality more widely, focusing on the ways inwhich feminists, lesbians and gay men, as well as religious fundamentalists have transformed our ways of thinking about sexuality in the past few decades.About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.
Read Less