In this book, Touko Vaahtera explores how "bodies of latent potential," a cultural attachment to the idea of body as potentiality, carries with it hierarchizing hopes about better bodies. Vaahtera combines disability studies, cultural studies, feminist science studies, transgender studies, post-colonial studies, and Foucauldian genealogy to offer a provocative approach that interrogates capacities and capabilities as obvious frameworks for thinking about the body. Vaahtera explores how swimming skills emerged as a specific biopolitical question in Finland, a country that has been described as the "Land of a Thousand Lakes." Through a profound cultural analysis focusing both on Finnish cultural texts on swimming as well as manifold more globalized texts, Vaahtera considers how the legacy of eugenics and colonialism, the hopes of civilization, and homogenizing assumptions about bodies frame how we think about human capacity.

The debate on whether or not people are born homosexual (biological essentialist theory) or become homosexual during the course of their lives (social constructionist theory) continues as each side claims to prove the truth through research and clinical findings. This breakthrough book shows the fissures in concepts of the gay and lesbian identity and the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of both sexual and gender identity. The editors present an alternative view--sexual and gender expression is a product of complementary biological, personal, and cultural influences in If You Seduce a Straight Person, Can You Make Them Gay?Through theoretical analysis, ethnographic and empirical data, and case studies, the editors show how the one-sidedness of both biological essentialist and social constructionist versions of sexual and gender identity make it difficult, if not impossible, to conceptually determine the origin of an individual s sexual expression. This thought-provoking book covers many topics that are sure to cause readers to re-evaluate their thinking about the origins of gay and lesbian identity. Among the topics examined with this fresh perspective are: Childhood Cross-Gender Behavior and Adult Homosexuality Gay and Lesbian Teachers and Coming Out Homosexuality, Marriage, Fidelity, and the Gay Community: Case of Gay Husbands Can Seduction Make Straight Men Gay? Gay and Lesbian Identities in Non-industrialized Societies--Surinam (Dutch New Guinea), Turkey, Nicaragua, and Argentina Political-Economic Construction of Gay Male IdentitiesReaders will clearly see that the controversy over the being born gay or becoming gay debate is far from resolved. From the beginning, the book explores how human beings are less constrained by biology than many would like to believe. Social circumstances and economics cause some determination of identity, but not exclusively. Theoretical introductions to each chapter attempt to synthesize elements on both sides of this most contemporary debate.

This book is the first longitudinal study of the language surrounding rape in the British press. Through a diachronic analysis informed by corpus linguistics and feminist theory, Tranchese examines how rape discourse has (or has not) changed over the past decade. With its detailed investigation of media representations, the book explores how age-old rape myths re-emerge with new forms in news narratives. Against the backdrop of twelve years of newspaper coverage of rape, including many high-profile cases, this study also traces the rise of "celebrity culture", the emergence of #metoo, and the subsequent aggressive reaction against it. The author places these historical events and recent trends within broader debates on feminism, and the role of (social) media in the backlash against it. This book provides a much-needed linguistic analysis which will be of particular interest to scholars and students of feminist studies, language and gender, corpus-assisted discourse studies, and gendered crime.

This book analyzes how the increasing number of same-sex couples is changing the traditional concepts of family and parenthood, and how these changes affect the psychological studies of family, couple relationships and human development. The majority of chapters included in this contributed volume present results of research conducted with LGBTQ+ people in Brazil, a country where same-sex couples have been recognized by the national legislation since 2011, but is currently facing a conservative wave which threatens much of the victories gained by the LGBTQ+ movement in recent years. That's why this book aims to provide both updated theoretical and methodological contributions as well as ethically and political engaged reflections to the field of psychological studies of LGBTQ+ parenting and couple relationships. Chapters in this volume analyze different aspects of LGBTQ+ parenting and couple relationships, such as changes in the concept of family; the role of the family of origin in the coming out process of young adults; risk and protective factors in couple relationships between lesbians and gay men; vulnerabilities experienced by trans couples during the COVID-19 pandemic; how lesbians, gays, trans and non-binaries are approaching parenting and raising their families; factors that shape the reproductive decisions of LGBTQ+ individuals; adoption and coparenting in families composed of gay and lesbian couples, among other topics. Parenting and Couple Relationships Among LGBTQ+ People in Diverse Contexts will be of interest to social, developmental and family psychologists and social workers researching and working with same-sex couples and families, and with the LGBTQ+ population in general.

The Palgrave Handbook of Sexual Ethics is a comprehensive collection of recent research on the ethics of sexual behavior, representing a wide range of perspectives. It addresses a number of traditional subjects in the area, including questions about pre-marital, extra-marital, non-heterosexual, and non-procreative sex, and about the nature and significance of sexual consent, sexual desire, and sexual activity, as well as a variety of more recent topics, including sexual racism, sexual ableism, sex robots, and the #metoo response to sexual harassment. Each chapter defends a substantive thesis about the topic it addresses and the handbook as a whole thereby provides a strong foundation for future research in this important and growing field of inquiry.

This book examines the phenomenon of sexual harassment in the UK Parliament and efforts to tackle it. The volume's in-depth research unveils a political culture where sexual transgressions thrive. Its intersectional feminist perspective furthermore highlights multiple systems of gendered oppression perpetuating inequality. Britain's experience is viewed against the global #MeToo movement and Hollywood's Weinstein sex scandal. The book identifies ways to redress the status quo and challenges ahead, including a gender power gap, misuse of non-disclosure agreements to silence victims, and misogynistic organisational cultures.

Contents:
Prologue: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Trials; Or Why I Digress Part One: Against the Norm 1. Embodying the Englishman 2. Taking Sex in Hand 3. Social Dis-Ease Part Two: Pressing Issues 4. Legislating the Norm 5. Typing Wilde 6. Disposing the Body Epilogue: What's in a Name?

This book compares shifting formulations of gender, interfaith, and ethnic relations across continents from antiquity to the Nineteenth century. Contributors address three areas: depictions of homosexual and transgendered behaviours, conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity, and the marriageability of ethnic and religious minorities.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203076052

Chapters are written by scholars form across a range of the humanities and social schiences, giving a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on the impact of Foucault's work. Updated and revised introduction and bibliography to explicitly address an anglophone readership.

This book presents an innovative cross-disciplinary report on research across the humanities and social sciences about the relationship between pornography and its consumers. For policy makers and the wider public it can be difficult to obtain a clear understanding of the current state of knowledge on pornography and its relationships with audiences, due to the often-contradictory nature of research spanning the various and politically diverse academic disciplines. The cross-disciplinary expertise of the author team has engaged in an extensive examination of the findings of academic research in the area in order to explain, in a clear and accessible style, the most important conclusions about the relationship of pornography to Healthy Sexual Development. This short and accessible overview is suitable for students and scholars in Psychology, Sexual Health, Film Studies, Sex Education, Queer Theory, Gender Studies, Sexuality Studies, Sociology, Media Studies and Cultural Studies.

With a particular focus on the British printing industry, this book tackles the ongoing issue of pay inequality and examines the challenges facing many women today. By analysing organisation processes within the workplace, the author considers the unequal allocation of power resources that generate and sustain women's invisibility and argues that women's power is often outflanked by that of their male colleagues. Written by a skilled academic with direct industry experience, this new book is an insightful read for those researching human resource management (HRM), women's studies and diversity, as well as trade union officials and policy-makers.

This book argues that Ann Leckie's novel Ancillary Justice offers a devastating rebuke to the political, social, cultural, and economic injustices of American imperialism in the post 9/11 era. Following an introductory overview, the study offers four chapters that examine key themes central to the novel: gender, imperial economics, race, and revolutionary agency. Ancillary Justice's exploration of these four themes, and the way it reveals how these issues are all fundamentally entangled with the problem of contemporary imperial power, warrants its status as a canonical work of science fiction for the twenty-first century. The book concludes with a brief interview with Leckie herself touching on each of the topics examined during the preceding chapters.

Description Cooperative Gaming provides context and practical advice regarding diversity in the games industry. The book begins with a deep dive into research literature and the history of diversity in the games industry to provide context around what diversity is and why it is a topic worth considering. The book looks at the different facets of diversity and games, exploring the issues and solutions within game development, studio management, event planning, and more. It provides people with practical advice about being a marginalized person in the games industry and how to be heard, how studios can support inclusive practices, and events can actively become more accessible to a diverse audience. Key Features * Explores the history of diversity in games * Provides important information around what it is like to be a marginalized person in the industry * Gives practical steps to improve the inclusivity of the industry that are designed to aid in contextualizing and upskilling new developers Author Bios Alayna Cole is the managing director of Queerly Represent Me, a not-for-profit championing queer representation in games. Alayna is also a producer at Sledgehammer Games, co-chair of the IGDA LGBTQ+ special interest group, and an award-winning games journalist and game developer. She was featured on the 2016 and 2017 Develop Pacific 30 Under 30 lists and the 2017 and 2019 Develop Pacific Women in Games lists, and she has received several other accolades in the industry. Jessica Zammit started writing in 2013 for Start Select Media, and for the next five years she followed her interest in writing about representations of mental health, diversity, and particularly, sexuality in video games. Jessica has been speaking about diversity in games at conventions such as PAX Australia since 2016 and has been featured on several other discussions in and around the topic of representation in games and games criticism. Along with her co-author, she is co-chair of the IGDA LGBTQ+ special interest group, and she was featured on the 2018 Develop Pacific 30 Under 30 and Women in Games lists.

1. This book can be used as engaging supplementary reading for a range of research methods courses in Criminology, and across the Social Sciences. 2. The book does not just describe the method but brings it alive with case studies of empirical research in criminal justice.

This is the first book to offer a philosophical engagement with microaggressions. It aims to provide an intersectional analysis of microaggressions that cuts across multiple dimensions of oppression and marginalization, and to engage a variety of perspectives that have been sidelined within the discipline of philosophy. The volume gathers a diverse group of contributors: philosophers of color, philosophers with disabilities, philosophers of various nationalities and ethnicities, and philosophers of several gender identities. Their unique frames of analysis articulate both how the concept of microaggressions can be used to clarify and sharpen our understanding of subtler aspects of oppression and how analysis, expansion, and reconceiving the notion of a microaggression can deepen and extend its explanatory power. The essays in the volume seek to defend microaggressions from common critiques and to explain their impact beyond the context of college students. Some of the guiding questions that this volume explores include, but are not limited to, the following: Can microaggressions be established as a viable scientific concept? What roles do microaggressions play in other oppressive phenomena like transphobia, fat phobia, and abelism? How can epistemological challenges around microaggressions be addressed via feminist theory, critical race theory, disability theory, or epistemologies of ignorance? What insights can be gleaned from intersectional analyses of microaggressions? Are there domain-specific analyses of microaggressions that would give insight to features of that domain, i.e. microaggressions related to sexuality, athletics, immigration status, national origin, body type, or ability. Microaggressions and Philosophy features cutting-edge research on an important topic that will appeal to a wide range of students and scholars across disciplines. It includes perspectives from philosophy of psychology, empirically informed philosophy, feminist philosophy, critical race theory, disability theory, philosophy of language, philosophy of science, and social and political philosophy.

Queering Philosophy provides a critical introduction to and engagement with current conversations and emerging themes at the nexus of queer theory and philosophy. Much more than a summary of recent work, this book presents an intersectional, thematic approach that highlights scholarship at the cutting edge of queer, feminist, disability, and critical race theories; defines the parameters of contemporary queer philosophy; and argues that a queer philosophy must aim to queer philosophy. Queering Philosophy explores the possibility of doing philosophy otherwise. In doing so, the book explores feminist, critical race, and critical disability theories to advance a queer feminist critique, and challenges the unacknowledged whiteness and other forms of marginalization that have characterized the mainstream of philosophy and queer theory's archive. This accessible and important book is ideal for courses in philosophy and gender, sexuality, race and disability studies.

Revolutionary Imaginings in the 1790s discusses the work of three prominent women writers by focusing on the response to the French Revolution and the struggle for reform in Britain. Examining previously-neglected texts as well as more familiar ones, the book contributes to our understanding of a period of intense political and literary engagement.

An examination of typology about place in relation to the Virgin Mary. This book takes a fresh look at some of the seemingly tired images of the Virgin Mary across the medieval and early Golden Age period in Hispanic literatures. It explores the Virgin as a gateway and as a Temple, as a garden and asa fountain, as a scented space, and as a strong defensive place (fortress or castle wall). It also explores her as a home and as a nuptial bedchamber, and sets these images in the context of known liturgical usage in medieval andearly modern Spain. LESLEY TWOMEY is Professor of Medieval and Golden Age Art and Literature at Northumbria University. She is the author of several books about peninsular Marian literature.

For over half a century, the Middle East has been major migration corridor for domestic workers from Asia and Africa. This book Illuminates the multidimensionality of these workers' lives as they engage in finding a balance between acting and being acted upon, struggle and accommodation, and movement and stasis.

This title explores understandings and experiences of 'dirty work' - tasks or occupations that are seen as disgusting and degrading. It complicates the 'clean/dirty' divide in the context of organisations and work and illustrates some of the complex ways in which dirty work identities are managed.

This book offers an exploration of the postcolonial hybrid experience in anglophone Caribbean plays and performance from a feminist perspective. In a hitherto unattempted consideration of Caribbean theatre and performance, this study of gendered identities chronicles the postcolonial hybrid experience - and how it varies in the context of questions of sex, performance and social designation. In the process, it examines the diverse performances of the anglophone Caribbean. The work includes works by Caribbean anglophone playwrights like Derek Walcott, Mustapha Matura, Michael Gikes, Dennis Scott, Trevor Rhone, Earl Lovelace and Errol John with more recent works of Pat Cumper, Rawle Gibbons and Tony Hall. The study would also engage with Carnival, calypso and chutney music, while commenting on its evolving influences over the hybrid imagination. Each section covers the dominant socio-political thematics associated with the tradition and its effect on it, followed by an analysis of contemporaneously significant literary and cultural works - plays, carnival narrative and calypso and chutney lyrics as well as the experiences of performers. From Lovelace's fictional Jestina to the real-life Drupatee, the book critically explores the marginalization of female performances while forming a hybrid identity.

Given the intense political scrutiny of Islam and Muslims, which often centres on gendered concerns, The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender is an outstanding reference source to key topics, problems, and debates in this exciting subject. Comprising over 30 chapters by a team of international contributors the Handbook is divided into seven parts: Foundational texts in historical and contemporary contexts Sex, sexuality, and gender difference Gendered piety and authority Political and religious displacements Negotiating law, ethics, and normativity Vulnerability, care, and violence in Muslim families Representation, commodification, and popular culture These sections examine key debates and problems, including: feminist and queer approaches to the Qur'an, hadith, Islamic law, and ethics, Sufism, devotional practice, pilgrimage, charity, female religious authority, global politics of feminism, material and consumer culture, masculinity, fertility and the family, sexuality, sexual rights, domestic violence, marriage practices, and gendered representations of Muslims in film and media. The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies, Islamic studies, and gender studies. The Handbook will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as cultural studies, area studies, sociology, anthropology, and history.

This book sets out a rationale for the compatibility of Islam and Feminism and shows that Islamic Feminism is a diverse and valuable lens through which to analyse religion and gender. In addition, including scholarship written in Arabic, it promotes the decolonisation of knowledge production around Islam, gender and sexuality. Islamic feminism is a field of study that has been marginalised both in contemporary Islamic discourse and in feminist discourse. This study counters this marginalisation in two ways. Firstly, it enumerates the diversity of approaches used in Islamic feminist scholarship. Secondly, it foregrounds voices that are often neglected in discussions of Islam, gender and sexuality by highlighting and contrasting the work of two key scholars: Kecia Ali based in the USA and Olfa Youssef based in Tunisia. The book suggests that in addition to geo-political positioning, language, as a 'prior-text', also influences an individual's personal interpretation of Islamic feminism. This comparison, therefore, enables broader issues to be dissected, such as the interrelationships between life experiences, strategies of resistance to patriarchal and other forms of oppression, and the production of knowledge. This is a unique study of Islamic Feminism that will be of great use to any scholar of Religion and Gender, Islamic Studies, Gender Studies and the Sociology of Religion.