Sexuality

Book excerpt: The new edition of Sexuality displays the qualities which have made this book a key text for understanding human sexuality. Jeffrey Weeks blends deep empirical knowledge with theoretical sophistication and a sensitivity to the politics of sexuality. Framing and shaping the analysis is an acute understanding of the world-wide changes that are remaking sexuality and gender, dramatized by the globalization of sex and the rise and rise of cybersex. These changes have opened unprecedented opportunities for sexual interaction and sexual choice, but also posed new sexual dangers and anxiety. Debates about the regulation and control of sexuality, and the intersection of various dimensions of power and domination are contextualised by a sustained argument about the importance of agency in remaking sexual and intimate life, above all for women and for LGBTQ people. Particular attention is given to the debates about same-sex marriage which symbolize the transformations that have taken place. These controversies in turn feed into debates about intimate citizenship and human sexual rights in a rapidly changing world.