Sexuality

The contemporary study of sexuality too often finds itselfat an impasse, conceptualizing sexuality either psychologically orsociologically: sexologists and psychologists have tended to pointto the biological origins of sexuality underpinned by hormones,drives and, most recently, genetics; in contrast, historians andsociologists point to the social field as the defining force thatshapes the meanings given to sexuality and sexual experience. Confronting the limitations and challenges this impasse poses,Katherine Johnson argues for a psychosocial approach that rethinksthe relationship between psychic and social realms in the field ofsexuality, without reducing it to either. Weaving through anexpanse of theoretical and empirical examples drawn from sociology,psychology, queer and cultural studies, she produces an innovative,transdisciplinary perspective on sexual identities, subjectivitiesand politics that makes an original contribution to key debatesranging from identity politics and gay marriage, to mental health'risks' and queer youth suicide. Embracing ideas from developmental psychology, socialconstructionist sociology, social and critical psychology,psychoanalysis and queer theory, this original book will benecessary reading for students and scholars of sexuality across thesocial sciences.