The new sociology of sexuality has a two-fold aim: to demonstrate how the social shapes the sexual; and to analyse how the sexual in turn becomes a focal point for personal identity, cultural anxiety value debates and political action. Drawing on papers from the 1994 British Sociological Association annual conference on 'Sexualities in Social Context', this volume brings together key contributors to this stimulating new approach. Topics covered include theoretical developments, the relationship between history and contemporary controversies, community and identity, especially in the context of AIDS, value conflicts and changes in the meanings of intimacy. The book as a whole offers a significant intervention into debates on sexuality, and a thoughtful contribution to the broadening of the sociological agenda.

Inhalt
Acknowledgements - Notes on Contributors - Introduction; J.Weeks & J.Holland - PART 1: APPROACHES TO SEXUALITY - News from the Margin: The Progress of Sex in Sociology; J.Gagnon - From Sexual Divisions to Sexualities: Changing Sociological Agendas; S.Allen & D.Leonard - Intimate Citizenship and the Culture of Sexual Storytelling; K.Plummer - Gay Brains, Gay Genes, and Feminist Science Theory; H.Rose - PART 2: HISTORICAL EXCURSIONS - The Shock of the Freewoman Journal: Feminists Speaking on Heterosexuality in Early 20th Century England; L.Bland - Mass Observation's 'Little Kinsey' and the British Sex Survey Tradition; L.Stanley - From 'Immorality' to 'Underclass': The Current and Historical Context of Illegitimacy; A.Blaikie - PART 3: IDENTITIES, COMMUNITIES AND CONTROL - Medicalisation and Identity Formation: Identity and Strategy in the Context of AIDS and HIV; B.Heaphy - Community Responses to HIV and AIDS: The 'De-Gaying' and 'Re-Gaying' of AIDS; J.Weeks, P.Aggleton, C.McKevitt, K.Parkinson & A.Taylor-Laybourn - Prostitution and the Contours of Control; J.O'Connell Davidson - PART 4: INTIMACY - Intimacy, Altruism and the Loneliness of Moral Choice: The Case of HIV Positive Health Workers; N.Small - Whose Orgasm is This Anyway? 'Sex work' in long-term heterosexual couple relationships; J.Duncombe & D.Marsden - Reputations: Journeying into gendered power relations; J.Holland, C.Ramazanoglu, S.Sharpe & R.Thomson - The Conundrum of Sex and Death: Some issues in health care practice; D.Clark & J.Hirst - Index