A pioneering study which has become an established classic in its field, Sex, Politics and Society provides a lucid and comprehensive analysis of the transformations of British sexual life from 1800 to the present. These changes are firmly located in the wider context of British social, political and cultural life, from industrialization, urbanisation and the impact of Empire and colonisation, through the experience of economic disruption, World Wars, the establishment of the welfare state, changing patterns of gender and the emergence of new sexual identities. This book also charts the rise of both progressive and conservative social movements, including feminism, LGBT activism, and fundamentalist movements. It is a history where the past continues to live in the present, and where the present provides ever more complex, and often controversial patterns of sexual life, with sexual and gender issues at the heart of contemporary politics.
Now fully revised and updated, this edition examines key new developments including:
- the impact of globalisation, and the digital revolution;
- gender nonconformity and the rise of transgender consciousness;
- shifting family and relational patterns, and new forms of intimacy;
- changes in reproductive technology including the debates on IVF and surrogacy;
- new discourses of equality and sexual rights for LGBT people;
- the irresistible rise of same-sex marriage;
- the weakening of the heterosexual/ homosexual binary divide and the development of new lines of concern and divisions in the politics of sexuality.
Combining rich empirical detail with innovative theoretical insights, Sex, Politics and Society remains at the cutting edge of the subject, and this fourth edition will inspire and provoke a whole new generation of readers in history, sociology, social policy and critical sexuality studies.
A pioneering study which has become an established classic in its field, Sex, Politics and Society offers a comprehensive analysis of the transformations of British sexual life from 1800 to today. Fully updated, this fourth edition examines key new developments and will inspire all readers in history, sociology, and critical sexuality studies.
'This is the most comprehensive historical study of modern sexuality to date. Weeks leaves no topic untouched in his quest to cover the varieties of human sexual experience in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is an essential text for courses on the history of modern European sexuality. Scholars and students alike will benefit from his exhaustive inclusion of every topic from Victorianism to society's modern consideration of LGBT people.'
Jennifer D. Thibodeaux, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA
'Sex, Politics and Society was groundbreaking when it was first published - and it has fully ?stood the test of time. This new updated edition speaks as eloquently to us now of the intersections of sex and sexuality with culture, politics and society as it did in 1981. It remains lodestone in my work.'
Matt Cook, Birkbeck, University of London, UK
'For more than three decades, Jeffrey Weeks' Sex, Politics and Society has been an essential guide to the history of sexuality in modern Britain. Like its predecessors, this new edition offers accessible explanations of complex theoretical material, while expertly tracing shifts in attitudes towards, and experiences of, sexuality since 1800. The addition of extended discussions on LBGT rights, same-sex marriage, and the fluidity of gender and sexual identities brings its story up to date. This remains an indispensable work for anyone interested in how people have lived and loved over the past two centuries.'
Tracey Loughran, Cardiff University, UK
