Search results for ""author jeffrey weeks""

Until the 1970s the history of sexuality was a marginalized practice. Today it is a flourishing field, increasingly integrated into the mainstream and producing innovative insights into the ways in which societies shape and are shaped by sexual values, norms, identities and desires. In this book, Jeffrey Weeks, one of the leading international scholars in the subject, sets out clearly and concisely how sexual history has developed, and its implications for our understanding of the ways we live today. The emergence of a new wave of feminism and lesbian and gay activism in the 1970s transformed the subject, heavily influenced by new trends in social and cultural history, radical sociological insights and the impact of Michel Foucault’s work. The result was an increasing emphasis on the historical shaping of sexuality, and on the existence of many different sexual meanings and cultures on a global scale. With chapters on, amongst others, lesbian, gay and queer history, feminist sexual history, the mainstreaming of sexual history, and the globalization of sexual history, What is Sexual History? is an indispensable guide to these developments.

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Jeffrey Weeks has established an international reputation as one of the most original and influential writers on the social history of sexuality.

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Until the 1970s the history of sexuality was a marginalized practice. Today it is a flourishing field, increasingly integrated into the mainstream and producing innovative insights into the ways in which societies shape and are shaped by sexual values, norms, identities and desires. In this book, Jeffrey Weeks, one of the leading international scholars in the subject, sets out clearly and concisely how sexual history has developed, and its implications for our understanding of the ways we live today. The emergence of a new wave of feminism and lesbian and gay activism in the 1970s transformed the subject, heavily influenced by new trends in social and cultural history, radical sociological insights and the impact of Michel Foucault’s work. The result was an increasing emphasis on the historical shaping of sexuality, and on the existence of many different sexual meanings and cultures on a global scale. With chapters on, amongst others, lesbian, gay and queer history, feminist sexual history, the mainstreaming of sexual history, and the globalization of sexual history, What is Sexual History? is an indispensable guide to these developments.

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A man's own story from the Rhondda. Jeffrey Weeks was born in the Rhondda in 1945, of mining stock. As he grew-up he increasingly felt an outsider in the intensely community minded valleys, a feeling intensified as he became aware of his gayness. Escape came through education. He left for London, to university, and to realise his sexuality. From the early 1970s he was actively involved in the new gay liberation movement and became its pioneering historian. This was the beginning of a long career as a researcher and writer on sexuality, with widespread national and international recognition. He has been described as the 'most significant British intellectual working on sexuality to emerge from the radical sexual movements of the 1970s'. His seminal book, Coming Out, a history of LGBT movements and identities since the 19th century, has been in print for forty years. He was awarded the OBE in the Queen's Jubilee Honours in 2012 for his contribution to the social sciences.

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Jeffrey Weeks has been called 'the 'most significant British intellectual working on sexuality to emerge from the radical sexual movements of the 1970s'. Yet behind the titles and acclaim lies the story of a hugely fascinating, inspirational life - one both immersed in love and blighted by pain and loss. Growing up in a tight-knit mining community in the post-war Rhondda Valleys, Weeks knew from a young age that he was different. However, grappling with his burgeoning gayness amid this hotbed of sexual conservatism and traditional gender divisions, his initial explorations into this uniqueness led to little more than isolation and shame. Finding salvation in his studies, university brought with it a life-defining opportunity to thrive within the radical culture of late sixties and seventies London. He soon found himself at the forefront of the new gay liberation movement, and his work as its pioneering historian would spark a long career as a researcher and writer on sexuality, with widespread national and international recognition.

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Over the past generation there has been a revolution in our understanding of human sexualities. From being on the periphery of historical and scientific studies, sexuality has increasingly come to be seen as close to the heart of our understanding of contemporary societies. Since the 1960s there has been an explosion of new sexual knowledges which have re-shaped the ways in which the erotic is understood. A rich new literature has emerged, often produced by scholars influenced by feminism, lesbian and gay politics and other sexual movements. Sexualities and Society: A Reader offers a selection of the best of recent scholarship, from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Addressing sexualities in global perspective, it introduces some of the most exciting texts in the field, bringing together a collection of compelling contemporary research which will be fascinating to readers worldwide. The chapters are grouped into five sections: social and historical approaches to sexualities; the gender of sexuality; sexual identities; globalization; power and resistance; and sexual values and life experiments. Sexualities and Society will be a valuable resource for students of a range of courses addressing sexuality, including gender studies, feminist studies, the body, lesbian and gay studies and queer studies, aswell as sociology, cultural studies, politics, history and social policy.

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