The Story of Sexual Identity: Narrative Perspectives on the Gay and Lesbian Life Course
Phillip L. Hammack and Bertram J. Cohler
Abstract
When viewed through the broad lens of social history, the story of sexual identity across place and time is infused with extraordinary contextual specificity. Different cultures in different historical eras have organized human sexuality in a multiplicity of diverse forms and functions, constructing stories of sexual identity that serve a larger social structure with master narratives of what it means to be a member of a given community, culture, and society. In examining the shifting narratives of sexual identity in the 20th and 21st centuries and their impact on the process of human social d ... More
When viewed through the broad lens of social history, the story of sexual identity across place and time is infused with extraordinary contextual specificity. Different cultures in different historical eras have organized human sexuality in a multiplicity of diverse forms and functions, constructing stories of sexual identity that serve a larger social structure with master narratives of what it means to be a member of a given community, culture, and society. In examining the shifting narratives of sexual identity in the 20th and 21st centuries and their impact on the process of human social development, this edited volume fuses historical, cultural, and psychological perspectives on human sexuality to articulate a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to the study of sexual lives. Recognizing the historical and cultural relativity of life-course development, the contributors seek to offer a comprehensive perspective on the ways in which identity is inherently a process of co-construction between individual and culture, thereby positing a significant role for the social in the development of sexual identity. Following a general introduction in which the book explains the utility of a narrative approach to the study of sexual identity, the book is organized into sections which deal with specific life-span considerations of sexuality: childhood and adolescence, adulthood, marriage and parenthood, and aging.
Keywords:
human sexuality,
community,
culture,
society,
social development,
sexual lives,
childhood,
adolescence,
adulthood,
marriage
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2009 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780195326789 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326789.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Phillip L. Hammack, editor
University of California-Santa Cruz
Bertram J. Cohler, editor
University of Chicago
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