It is the aim of the present collection of seminal essays to offer a balanced yet rigorous examination of the durability and contemporary relevance of psychoanalysis, understood as a comprehensive system of theory and technique. The contributors eschew the establishment of yet another school of Freudian thought, not wishing to add to the already co

This unique and fascinating book transforms an area of study previously dominated by clinical models to look instead at cross-dressing and sex-changing as a highly variable social process. Giving precedence to the processual and emergent nature of much cross-dressing and sex-shanging phenomena, the book traces the phased femaling career path of the 'male femaler' from 'beginning femaling' through to 'consolidating femaling'. Based upon seventeen years of fieldwork, life history work, qualitative analysis, archival work and contact with several thousand cross-dressers and sex-changers, the book meticulously and systematically develops a theory of 'male femaling' which has major ramifications for both the field of 'transvestism' and 'transsexualism', and for the analysis of sex and gender more generally.

This unique and fascinating book transforms an area of study previously dominated by clinical models to look instead at cross-dressing and sex-changing as a highly variable social process.
Based upon years of fieldwork, life history work, qualitative analysis, archival work and contact with several thousand cross-dressers and sex-changers,the book meticulously and systematically develops a theory of 'male femaling' which has major ramifications for both the field of 'transvestism' and 'transsexualism', and for the analysis of sex and gender more generally.

Considers the treatment of gender blenders by the medical framework, in literature, the press and telephone sex lines and examines its prominence in recent contemporary cultural and queer theory.

It is the aim of the present collection of seminal essays to offer a balanced yet rigorous examination of the durability and contemporary relevance of psychoanalysis, understood as a comprehensive system of theory and technique. The contributors eschew the establishment of yet another school of Freudian thought, not wishing to add to the already confusing array of competing and conflicting perspectives.Each essay seeks to underscore, refine and add to the perceived strength, richness and flexibility of early psychoanalytic thought. A broad range of psychoanalytic concerns are addressed: the unconscious, mind and brain, mind and body, affect, cognition and character. Each topic is surveyed in a spirit of thoughtful and judicious consolidation. Open, and well-informed, a sure course is taken between the opposing dangers of dogma and fragmentation.Insisting upon a well-grounded appreciation of the origins and historical unfolding of psychoanalysis, and remaining close to both clinical observations and theoretical developments, the present volume looks forward to the continuing fertility and pertinence of psychoanalytical exploration.

This book provides an excellent introduction to the broad field of applied psychoanalysis and deals appropriately with clinical psychoanalytic concepts capable of being transferred from the analyst's consulting-room. It discusses developmental factors entering into forms of religious experience.

The important aspects of human wellbeing outlined in human rights instruments and constitutional bills of rights can only be adequately secured as and when they are rendered the object of specific rights and corresponding duties. It is often assumed that the main responsibility for specifying the content of such genuine rights lies with courts. Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation argues against this assumption, by showing how legislatures can and should be at the centre of the practice of human rights. This jointly authored book explores how and why legislatures, being strategically placed within a system of positive law, can help realise human rights through modes of protection that courts cannot provide by way of judicial review.

The important aspects of human wellbeing outlined in human rights instruments and constitutional bills of rights can only be adequately secured as and when they are rendered the object of specific rights and corresponding duties. It is often assumed that the main responsibility for specifying the content of such genuine rights lies with courts. Legislated Rights: Securing Human Rights through Legislation argues against this assumption, by showing how legislatures can and should be at the centre of the practice of human rights. This jointly authored book explores how and why legislatures, being strategically placed within a system of positive law, can help realise human rights through modes of protection that courts cannot provide by way of judicial review.

This book provides an excellent introduction to the broad field of applied psychoanalysis and deals appropriately with clinical psychoanalytic concepts capable of being transferred from the analyst's consulting-room. It discusses developmental factors entering into forms of religious experience.

CHOICE MAGAZINE Outstanding Academic Title for 2007The field of "transgender" and "transpositionality" has been carved out as a new field of inquiry in the past decade, showing the fragmentation and diversification of masculinities and feminities - along with the error of any sharp polarisation. Dave King and Richard Ekins are the leading world sociologists in this field and have mined it richly since the 1970's. The book brings together a brilliant synthesis of history, case studies, ideas and positions as they have emerged over the past thirty years, and brings together a rich but always grounded account of this field, providing a state of the art of critical concepts and ideas to take this field further during the twenty first century. This is a must read for all interested in this new area of inquiry ' - "Ken Plummer, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex. "Editor of" Sexualities." Author of "Intimate Citizenship

An outstanding survey of the evolution of trans phenomena, splendidly written, highly informative, scholarly at its best, yet easy to read even for those neither trans nor sociologist. Drs Ekins and King, experts in the field, unroll the panoramas of sex, gender, and transgendering that have evloved during the last decades. For everyone wanting to understand the interaction of women and men and of those who cannot or will not identify with either of these two cataegories, reading this book is a must, and a real pleasure' - "Professor Friedmann Pfaefflin, University of ULM

In a work destined to be a classic, Ekins and King offer a comprehensive overview of the diversity of contemporary transgender expression, along with an impressive conceptual framework for making sense of that diversity. The abundant case vignettes bring the authors' concepts to life and make the book a pleasure to read' - "Dr Anne Lawrence, Clinical Sexologist in Private Practice, Seattle

"""An outstanding survey of the evolution of trans phenomena, splendidly written, highly informative, scholarly at its best, yet easy to read even for those neither trans nor sociologist. Drs Ekins and King, experts in the field, unroll the panoramas of sex, gender, and transgendering that have evloved during the last decades. For everyone wanting to understand the interaction of women and men and of those who cannot or will not identify with either of these two cataegories, reading this book is a must, and a real pleasure' -

This groundbreaking study sets out a framework for exploring transgender diversity for the new millennium. It sets forth an original and comprehensive research and provides a wealth of vivid illustrative material.

Based on two decades of fieldwork, life history work, qualitative analysis, archival work and contact with several thousand cross-dressers and sex-changers around the world, the authors distinguish a number of contemporary transgendering stories' to illustrate:

" the binary male/female divide;

" the interrelations betwen sex, sexuality and gender;

" the interrelations between the main sub-processes of transgendering.

Wonderfully insightful, The Transgender Phenomenon develops an original and innovative conceptual framkework for understanding the full range of the transgender experience.

In Lord Sumption and the Limits of the Law, leading public law scholars reflect on the nature and limits of the judicial role and its implications for human rights protection and democracy. The starting point for this reflection is Lord Sumption's lecture, 'The Limits of the Law', which grounds a wide-ranging discussion of questions including the scope and legitimacy of judicial law-making, the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the continuing significance and legitimacy, or otherwise, of the European Court of Human Rights. Lord Sumption ends the volume with a substantial commentary on the responses to his lecture.

The Politics of Authenticating: Revisiting New Orleans Jazz sets forth an entirely new approach to the study of authenticity, based not upon a search for finding the ‘true’ meaning of the concept or ‘unmasking’ its claims. Rather, it details a grounded theory of ‘authenticating’ as a basic socio-political process, important in understanding the origins, development and consequences of competing knowledge claims in diverse areas of human experience and activity over time and place. The book is part jazz historiography, part autoethnography, and part memoir. It details Richard Ekins revisiting of the quest for authenticity in the social worlds of international New Orleans revivalist jazz from the early 1960s onwards, from his standpoint as a social constructionist social scientist and cultural theorist. The book grew out of a series of long, detailed conversations between Ekins and his interlocutor (Robert Porter) and captures the energy and dynamism of these exchanges in the writing of the text, providing what the authors call a ‘riff methodology’ that might be drawn on by other scholars concerned to write books that revisit aspects of their personal and professional lives.

In Lord Sumption and the Limits of the Law, leading public law scholars reflect on the nature and limits of the judicial role and its implications for human rights protection and democracy. The starting point for this reflection is Lord Sumption's lecture, 'The Limits of the Law', which grounds a wide-ranging discussion of questions including the scope and legitimacy of judicial law-making, the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and the continuing significance and legitimacy, or otherwise, of the European Court of Human Rights. Lord Sumption ends the volume with a substantial commentary on the responses to his lecture.

CHOICE MAGAZINE Outstanding Academic Title for 2007The field of "transgender" and "transpositionality" has been carved out as a new field of inquiry in the past decade, showing the fragmentation and diversification of masculinities and feminities - along with the error of any sharp polarisation. Dave King and Richard Ekins are the leading world sociologists in this field and have mined it richly since the 1970's. The book brings together a brilliant synthesis of history, case studies, ideas and positions as they have emerged over the past thirty years, and brings together a rich but always grounded account of this field, providing a state of the art of critical concepts and ideas to take this field further during the twenty first century. This is a must read for all interested in this new area of inquiry ' - "Ken Plummer, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex. "Editor of" Sexualities." Author of "Intimate Citizenship

An outstanding survey of the evolution of trans phenomena, splendidly written, highly informative, scholarly at its best, yet easy to read even for those neither trans nor sociologist. Drs Ekins and King, experts in the field, unroll the panoramas of sex, gender, and transgendering that have evloved during the last decades. For everyone wanting to understand the interaction of women and men and of those who cannot or will not identify with either of these two cataegories, reading this book is a must, and a real pleasure' - "Professor Friedmann Pfaefflin, University of ULM

In a work destined to be a classic, Ekins and King offer a comprehensive overview of the diversity of contemporary transgender expression, along with an impressive conceptual framework for making sense of that diversity. The abundant case vignettes bring the authors' concepts to life and make the book a pleasure to read' - "Dr Anne Lawrence, Clinical Sexologist in Private Practice, Seattle

"""An outstanding survey of the evolution of trans phenomena, splendidly written, highly informative, scholarly at its best, yet easy to read even for those neither trans nor sociologist. Drs Ekins and King, experts in the field, unroll the panoramas of sex, gender, and transgendering that have evloved during the last decades. For everyone wanting to understand the interaction of women and men and of those who cannot or will not identify with either of these two cataegories, reading this book is a must, and a real pleasure' -

This groundbreaking study sets out a framework for exploring transgender diversity for the new millennium. It sets forth an original and comprehensive research and provides a wealth of vivid illustrative material.

Based on two decades of fieldwork, life history work, qualitative analysis, archival work and contact with several thousand cross-dressers and sex-changers around the world, the authors distinguish a number of contemporary transgendering stories' to illustrate:

" the binary male/female divide;

" the interrelations betwen sex, sexuality and gender;

" the interrelations between the main sub-processes of transgendering.

Wonderfully insightful, The Transgender Phenomenon develops an original and innovative conceptual framkework for understanding the full range of the transgender experience.

The Draft European Constitution was arguably both an attempt to constitutionalise the Union, re-framing that project in the language of the state, and an attempt to stretch the boundaries of constitutionalism itself, re-imagining that concept to accommodate the sui generis European Union. The (partial) failure of this project is the subject of this collection of essays. The collection brings together leading EU constitutional scholars to consider, with the benefit of hindsight, the purportedly constitutional character of the proposed Constitutional Treaty, the reasons for its rejection by voters in France and the Netherlands, the ongoing implications of this episode for the European project, and the lessons it teaches us about what constitutionalism really means.