Space, Place, and Sex

Geographies of Sexualities

By (author) Lynda Johnston Professor of Geography, University of Waikato, Robyn Longhurst

Publication date:

16 November 2009

Length of book:

208 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

241x161mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742555112

This accessible and engaging book explores the ways that "space, place, and sex" are inextricably linked from the micro to the macro level, from the individual body to the globe. Drawing on queer, feminist, gender, social, and cultural studies, Lynda Johnston and Robyn Longhurst highlight the complex nature of sex and sexuality and how they are connected to both virtual and physical spaces and places. Their aim is to enrich our understanding of sexual identities and practices—whether they be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, asexual, queer, or heterosexual. They show that bodies are defined and connected through media such as television, movies, ads, and the Internet, as well as through "real" places such as homes, churches, sports arenas, city streets, beaches, and wilderness. Drawing on a diverse array of historical and contemporary examples, the authors argue convincingly that sexual politics permeate all places and spaces at every level of geographical scale. Thus, they illustrate, sexuality affects the way people live in and interact with space and place, as space and place in turn affect people's sexuality.
Lynda Johnston and Robyn Longhurst’s Space, Place, and Sex weaves together the intellectual fruits of the 1990s, highlighting on-going conceptual trajectories as they develop in the 2000s, to demonstrate that sex, sexuality, and gender, on the one hand, and place and space, on the other, are necessarily intimately entwined. . . . While this book is theory-rich, it is exceptionally accessible, with chapters building theory into case study from the ground up. . . . This book will be a valuable read to the comparatively uninitiated with regard to geographies of sexualities because of its accessible, targeted use of theory and case study. It will also be invaluable to feminists, cultural geographers, gender researchers, and queer theorists, as a foundation work outlining future directions in research that does justice to both place and sexualities.