Negotiating Sexual Idioms

Download or read book Negotiating Sexual Idioms written by Marie-Luise Kohlke and published by Rodopi. This book was released on 2008 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Negotiating Sexual Idioms: Image, Text, Performance affords new theoretical approaches and insights into the complexity of sexual discourse pervading contemporary cultures, exploring sexuality's role in dominant conceptualisations of self and society, in patterns of political belonging and exclusion, and in societal transformations. Opening with a substantial critical introduction, this collection of twelve essays and creative pieces contributes to significant current debates regarding sexual rights and their violation, queer theory and identity politics, sexual fantasy formations and strategies of pleasure, and the celebration of sexual diversity, topics explored through a variety of disciplinary frameworks, including gender and film studies, religious philosophy, neo-Victorian and postcolonial literature, sociology, pornography, and performance art. The volume positions the subjects of sex and sexuality as crucial to our ethical understanding of the human, both in individual and communal terms, exploring how claims for sexual subjectivity and citizenship are formulated and the entitlements they entail. The analytical insights offered signal important new directions for critical engagement with the socio-political construction of sexuality and its strategic deployment within the cultural imaginary. Designed to appeal equally to scholars, students, and general readers, Negotiating Sexual Idioms will prove essential reading for those interested in multi-disciplinary approaches to reading sex and sexuality within inter-cultural contexts, from the early modern period to the present-day.