Gay life has become increasingly open in the last decade. In Beyond the Closet , Steven Seidman, a well-known author and leading scholar in sexuality, is the first to chronicle this lifestyle change and to look at the lives of contemporary gays and lesbians to see how their "out" status has changed. This compelling, well-written, and smart account is an important step forward for the gay and lesbian community.

Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays is an innovative, reader-friendly collection of essays that introduces the field of sexuality studies to undergraduate students. Examining the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of sexuality, this collection is designed to serve as a comprehensive yet accessible textbook for sexuality courses at the undergraduate level. The fourth edition adds 51 new essays whilst retaining 33 of the most popular essays from previous editions. It features perspectives that are intersectional, transnational, sex positive, and attentive to historically marginalized groups along multiple axes of inequality, including gender, race, class, ability, body size, religious identity, age, and, of course, sexuality. Essays explore how a wide variety of social institutions, including medicine, religion, the state, and education, shape sexual desires, behaviors, and identities. Sources of, and empirical research on, oppression are discussed, along with modes of resistance, activism, and policy change. The fourth edition also adds new user-friendly features for students and instructors. Keywords are italicized and defined, and each chapter concludes with review questions to help students ascertain their comprehension of key points. There is also an online annotated table of contents to help readers identify key ideas and concepts at a glance for each chapter.

This is the first anthology to thematize the dramatic upward and downward shifts that have created the new social theory, and to present this new and exciting body of work in a thoroughly trans-disciplinary manner. In this revised second edition readers are provided with a much greater range of thinkers and perspectives, including new sections on such issues as imperialism, power, civilization clash, health, and performance. The first section sets out the main schools of contemporary thought, from Habermas and Honneth on new critical theory, to Jameson and Hall on cultural studies, and Foucault and Bourdieu on poststructuralism. The sections that follow trace theory debates as they become more issues-based and engaged. They are: the post-foundational debates over morality, justice and epistemological truth the social meaning of nationalism, multiculturalism, globalization identity debates around gender, sexuality, race, the self, and post-coloniality. This new edition provides more ample biographical and intellectual introductions to each thinker, and substantial introductions to each of the major sections. The editors introduce the volume with a newly revised, interpretive overview of social theory today. The New Social Theory Reader is an essential, reliable guide to current theoretical debates.

In the last decade or so, there has been a shift in the popular and academic discussion of our personal lives. Relationships and not necessarily marriage have gravitated to the center of our relational lives. Many of us feel entitled to seek intimacy, an emotionally depthful social bonding, rather than simply security or companionship from our relationships. Unlike in a marriage-centred culture, intimacy is today pursued in varied relationships, from familial to friends and to romances. And intimacies are being forged in multiple venues, from face-to-face to virtual, cyber contexts.

A new scholarship has addressed this changing terrain of personal life there is today a vast literature on cohabitation, parenthood without marriage, sex and love outside marriage, queer families, cyber intimacies and friendships. However, much theorizing and research has focussed either on the interior, subjective or sociocultural aspects of intimacies, not their interaction.

This volume aims to break new ground: "Intimacies" explores the psychological terrain of intimacy in depthful ways without abandoning its sociohistorical context and the centrality of power dynamics. Drawing on a rich archive that includes the social sciences, feminism, queer studies, and psychoanalysis, the contributors examine:

• changing cultures of intimacy
• fluid and solid attachments and intimacies from hook ups, to sibling bonds, to erotic love
• a politics of intimacy that may involve state enforced hierarchies, class, misrecognition, social exclusion and violence
• embodied experiences of intimacy and dynamics of endings and loss
• a pluralization of intimacies that challenge established ethical hierarchies

This volume aims to define the cutting edge of this emerging field of scholarship and politics. It challenges existing paradigms that assume rigid hierarchical approaches to relational life. "Intimacies" will be of interest for psychoanalysts and for students or scholars in sexualities, gender studies, family studies, feminism studies, queer studies, social class, cultural studies, and philosophy."

In the last decade or so, there has been a shift in the popular and academic discussion of our personal lives. Relationships - and not necessarily marriage - have gravitated to the center of our relational lives. Many of us feel entitled to seek intimacy, an emotionally depthful social bonding, rather than simply security or companionship from our relationships. Unlike in a marriage-centred culture, intimacy is today pursued in varied relationships, from familial to friends and to romances. And intimacies are being forged in multiple venues, from face-to-face to virtual, cyber contexts. A new scholarship has addressed this changing terrain of personal life - there is today a vast literature on cohabitation, parenthood without marriage, sex and love outside marriage, queer families, cyber intimacies and friendships. However, much theorizing and research has focussed either on the interior, subjective or sociocultural aspects of intimacies, not their interaction. This volume aims to break new ground: Intimacies explores the psychological terrain of intimacy in depthful ways without abandoning its sociohistorical context and the centrality of power dynamics. Drawing on a rich archive that includes the social sciences, feminism, queer studies, and psychoanalysis, the contributors examine: changing cultures of intimacy fluid and solid attachments and intimacies from hook ups, to sibling bonds, to erotic love a politics of intimacy that may involve state enforced hierarchies, class, misrecognition, social exclusion and violence embodied experiences of intimacy and dynamics of endings and loss a pluralization of intimacies that challenge established ethical hierarchies This volume aims to define the cutting edge of this emerging field of scholarship and politics. It challenges existing paradigms that assume rigid hierarchical approaches to relational life. Intimacies will be of interest for psychoanalysts and for students or scholars in sexualities, gender studies, family studies, feminism studies, queer studies, social class, cultural studies, and philosophy.

Steven Seidman offers the first sustained account of the post-closeted gay world. Since the Stonewall rebellions, lesbian and gay life has been understood in terms of "being in" or "coming out" of the closet. Seidman argues that a new configuration of gay life is taking shape, and that the closet is disappearing.

In The Social Construction of Sexuality, Steven Seidman investigates the political and social consequences of privileging certain sexual practices and identities while stigmatising others. Addressing a range of topics from gay and lesbian identities to sex work, Seidman delves into issues of social control that inform popular beliefs and moral standards. The new third edition features three new chapters that focus on the changing cultures of intimacy, the promise and perils of cyber intimacies, and youth struggles to negotiate independence and intimate solidarity.

The Postmodern Turn gathers together some of the most important statements of the postmodern approach to human studies. Addressing the postmodern social theory that emphasizes the social role of knowledge, this book abandons the disciplinary boundaries separating the sciences and the humanities. Contributors include well-known theorists in the varied fields of sociology, anthropology, women's and gay studies, philosophy, and history.

Introducing the New Sexuality Studies: Original Essays is an innovative, reader-friendly collection of essays that introduces the field of sexuality studies to undergraduate students. Examining the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of sexuality, this collection is designed to serve as a comprehensive yet accessible textbook for sexuality courses at the undergraduate level. The fourth edition adds 51 new essays whilst retaining 33 of the most popular essays from previous editions. It features perspectives that are intersectional, transnational, sex positive, and attentive to historically marginalized groups along multiple axes of inequality, including gender, race, class, ability, body size, religious identity, age, and, of course, sexuality. Essays explore how a wide variety of social institutions, including medicine, religion, the state, and education, shape sexual desires, behaviors, and identities. Sources of, and empirical research on, oppression are discussed, along with modes of resistance, activism, and policy change. The fourth edition also adds new user-friendly features for students and instructors. Keywords are italicized and defined, and each chapter concludes with review questions to help students ascertain their comprehension of key points. There is also an online annotated table of contents to help readers identify key ideas and concepts at a glance for each chapter.

Debate over gender and especially the lives of men is currently at a fever pitch, particularly in the United States. New perspectives that capture the complexity of men and a rapidly changing gender landscape are therefore critical today. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary American Men challenges narrow stereotyped views of men by arguing that men are as complex and layered as women. In the light of the recent #MeToo movement, stereotypes of men are being recycled. While aligned with the spirit of this movement, the authors worry that negative stereotypes of men are being perpetrated at the very time that men are renegotiating their gender experience. The authors present a critical non-heteronormative perspective addressing current gender transformations. Although the lives of men are changing, the stories that dominate the public sphere often represent them as narrowly phallic-controlling, detached, sexist, and homophobic. Seidman and Frank offer a counter point: men are also "guardians" driven to be useful and to do good, to live valued and purposeful lives. They argue that men are not only driven by a will to power but by an ethically-minded, relationally-oriented sense of responsibility to care for others, whether partners, children, or fellow citizens. Drawing on historical, sociological, and psychoanalytic work, this book provides a nuanced, multidimensional construct of American men today. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary American Men will be of interest to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists as well as scholars and students of gender and queer studies.

Steven Seidman examines the implications for social theory and sexual politics of taking difference seriously. He explores the troubles difference can make for the social sciences and for the very people--feminists, queer theorists, postmodernists--who champion difference. This is a wide-ranging and sophisticated discussion of contemporary social theory and sexual politics, focusing on difference, knowledge and power. It also argues persuasively for a pragmatic approach to questions of difference in theory and politics.

Debate over gender and especially the lives of men is currently at a fever pitch, particularly in the United States. New perspectives that capture the complexity of men and a rapidly changing gender landscape are therefore critical today. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary American Men challenges narrow stereotyped views of men by arguing that men are as complex and layered as women. In the light of the recent #MeToo movement, stereotypes of men are being recycled. While aligned with the spirit of this movement, the authors worry that negative stereotypes of men are being perpetrated at the very time that men are renegotiating their gender experience. The authors present a critical non-heteronormative perspective addressing current gender transformations. Although the lives of men are changing, the stories that dominate the public sphere often represent them as narrowly phallic-controlling, detached, sexist, and homophobic. Seidman and Frank offer a counter point: men are also "guardians" driven to be useful and to do good, to live valued and purposeful lives. They argue that men are not only driven by a will to power but by an ethically-minded, relationally-oriented sense of responsibility to care for others, whether partners, children, or fellow citizens. Drawing on historical, sociological, and psychoanalytic work, this book provides a nuanced, multidimensional construct of American men today. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary American Men will be of interest to psychoanalysts and psychotherapists as well as scholars and students of gender and queer studies.

As the field of sexuality studies has become a growth area in academia and classes on sexuality studies are incorporated into various disciplines, the expanding book market has been filled with specialist oriented texts which are often theoretically focused and contain too many summaries for an undergraduate audience. Addressing this imbalance, this key new volume presents the field of sexuality in an accessible and engaging way for undergraduates. Breaking new ground, both substantively and stylistically, this book offers students, academics and researchers an accessible, engaging introduction and overview of this emerging field. Its central premise is to explore the social character of sexuality, the role of social differences such as race or nationality in creating sexual variation, and the ways sex is entangled in relations of power and inequality. Through this novel approach, the field of sexuality is considered, for the first time, in multicultural, global, and comparative terms and from a truly social perspective. This important volume consists of over fifty short and original essays on the key topics and themes in sexuality studies, and interviews with twelve leading scholars in the field which convey some of the most innovative work being done. Each contribution clearly conveys the latest research with examples. Ideal for students of gender and sexuality studies, this topical and timely volume will be an invaluable resource to all those with an interest in sexuality studies.

This is the first anthology to thematize the dramatic upward and downward shifts that have created the new social theory, and to present this new and exciting body of work in a thoroughly trans-disciplinary manner. In this revised second edition readers are provided with a much greater range of thinkers and perspectives, including new sections on such issues as imperialism, power, civilization clash, health, and performance. The first section sets out the main schools of contemporary thought, from Habermas and Honneth on new critical theory, to Jameson and Hall on cultural studies, and Foucault and Bourdieu on poststructuralism. The sections that follow trace theory debates as they become more issues-based and engaged. They are: the post-foundational debates over morality, justice and epistemological truth the social meaning of nationalism, multiculturalism, globalization identity debates around gender, sexuality, race, the self, and post-coloniality. This new edition provides more ample biographical and intellectual introductions to each thinker, and substantial introductions to each of the major sections. The editors introduce the volume with a newly revised, interpretive overview of social theory today. The New Social Theory Reader is an essential, reliable guide to current theoretical debates.

This text examines the implications for social theory and sexual politics of taking difference seriously. It explores the trouble difference makes not only for the social sciences, but also for the people - feminists, queer theorists, postmodernists - who champion difference. Seidman asks how social thinkers should conceptualize differences such as gender, race, and sexuality, without reducing them to an inferior status. He looks to the new social knowledges for innovative approaches to difference, while pointing out the conceptual, ethical and political difficulties which can characterize them. This is a wide-ranging discussion of contemporary social theory and sexual politics. In addition, it argues persuasively for a pragmatic approach to difference troubles in theory and politics.

Social Postmodernism offers a transformative political vision and addresses the live questions in identity politics. The postmodern focus on race, sexuality and gender is sharpened by integrating the micro-social concerns of the social movements associated with these issues and macro-institutional and cultural analysis. Social Postmodernism brings together leading theorists to explore further the implications for the discourses of feminism, post-Marxian cultural studies, African-American, Gay, Latino/a and postcolonial studies.

The Postmodern Turn gathers together some of the most important statements of the postmodern approach to human studies. Addressing the postmodern social theory that emphasizes the social role of knowledge, this book abandons the disciplinary boundaries separating the sciences and the humanities. Contributors include well-known theorists in the varied fields of sociology, anthropology, women's and gay studies, philosophy, and history.

This volume brings together the major statements by the leading contemporary scholars of cultural analysis on the relation between culture and society. Part One surveys the range of current analytical debate over culture, focusing on the relationship of culture to social structure and power. While individual contributions differ in defining the nature of culture and its relation to society, they are in agreement in assessing the relative autonomy of culture and the centrality of symbolic analysis. Part Two turns to substantive debates, including those over the role of religion, secular ideology, and mass culture and brings to light disputes about the meaning of modernity. The book testifies to the remarkable development in the past two decades of a cultural paradigm for social and political analysis.

`The creation of a new field of lesbian and gay studies over the past thirty years has been a fascinating project. This volume brings together key authors in the field in 26 major essays and provides a clear sense of just how much has been achieved. It is a guide to the state of the art, and invaluable for scholars throughout the world' - Ken Plummer, Professor of Sociology, University of Essex; and Editor of Sexualities

`This book is unique in lesbian and gay studies. From politics to health, cyber-queers to queer families, the review essays in this volume cover all the important bases of GLB history and politics. The Introduction is a simple and accessible overview of the changing faces of theory and research over many decades. This book is bound to be an important resource in a burgeoning field' - Janice Irvine, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

`The Handbook of Gay and Lesbian Studies, assembled by two leading theorists of sexuality, makes available more than two dozen new cutting-edge essays in gay studies. Essential for social science scholars and students of gay//queer studies' - David F. Greenberg, Professor of Sociology, New York University

With this benchmark work, lesbian and gay studies comes of age. Drawing from a rich team of global contributors and carefully structured to elucidate the core issues in the field, it constitutes an unparalleled resource for teaching, research and debate. The volume is organized into 4 sections:

· History and Theory

This covers the roots of lesbian and gay studies, the institutionalization of the subject in the Academy, the 'naturalness' of heterosexuality, science and sexuality, the comparative sociology of homosexualities and the heterosexual//homosexual division.

· Identity and Community

This examines the formation of gay and lesbian identities communities and movements, 'cyber-queer' research, sexuality and space, generational issues in lesbian and gay lifecycles and the subject of bisexuality

· Institutions

This investigates questions of the governance of sexualities, lesbian and gay health, sexualities and education, religion and homosexuality, homosexuality and the law, gay and lesbian workers, homosexuality and the family, and lesbian, gay and queer encounters with the media and popular culture

· Politics

This explores the formation of the gay and lesbian movements, impact of globalization, antigay and lesbian violence, nationalism and transnationalism in lesbian and gay studies and sexual citizenship.

The result is an authoritative book that demarcates the field, stimulates critical discussion and provides lesbian and gay studies with an enriching focal reference point. It is, quite simply, a breakthrough work that will galvanize discussion and research for years to come.

In The Social Construction of Sexuality, Steven Seidman questions such assumptions and investigates the political and social consequences of privileging certain sexual practices and identities while stigmatizing others. Addressing a range of topics from gay and lesbian identities to sex work, he delves into issues of social control that inform popular beliefs and moral standards. The Social Construction of Sexuality widens the public discussion of the morality and politics of sexuality. With this insightful exploration of society s effect on our sexual choices, Seidman once again makes a significant contribution to the sociological study of sexuality. The Social Construction of Sexuality is part of the Contemporary Societies series.