Films and Texts for a Sexuality Course

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Hello,
I am planning a one-month, intensive undergraduate
course on sexuality.  I did in fact teach this course
years ago, but I'm afraid that many of the books I
used then are no longer available.  So, I'm looking
for new texts; ideally, I would like to find a reader.
 I have a few supplements planned (Katz' _The
Invention of Heterosexuality_ and Foucault's _The
History of Sexuality_).  But, I'm looking for
something really inclusive, something that will
address the formation of heterosexual, gay, and
lesbian identities, lesbian feminism, the feminist sex
wars, the AIDS crisis, bisexuality, sex work,
transgender, etc.  Since I teach at a Lutheran
college, I'd also like to address the ex-gay movement
(Exodus, for example) and the larger issue of religion
and sexuality.

I don't know if I can find this all in one place, but
if anyone can point me toward a really good,
comprehensive reader, that would be a great start.  As
I write this, I have on my desk Blasius' and Phelan's
_We Are Everywhere_ and Abelove et al's _The Lesbian
and Gay Studies Reader_ -- I'd be interested in
hearing if anyone has used either of these with
undergraduates and how that worked for you.

Thanks in advance!

Jessica Nathanson

=====
Jessica Nathanson, Ph.D. American Studies
Concentration, Women's Studies
Instructor, English and Gender Studies
Augustana College
Kilian Community College
janathanson  AT  yahoo.com

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Michael Warner's Fear of a Queer Planet might be useful to you.

Warm regards,

Helene

Helene Meyers
Professor of English
Southwestern University
1001 E. University Ave.
Georgetown, TX 78626
tel. 512-863-1492
Home Page: http://www.southwestern.edu/~meyersh

===========================================================================

Jessica,
here are some titles that maybe of help:

Suzanne LaFont,ed. Constructing Sexualities: Readings in Sexuality,
Gender, and Culture (I used this in my undergraduate class on cultural
constructions of sexualities, in which the focus was on fiction and
film. This helped).

Williams and Stein, Sexuality and Gender
Weeks, Holland, and Waits, Sexualities and Society: A Reader.
Donna Stanton, ed. Discourses of Sexuality: From Aristotle to Aids
Phillips and Reay, Sexualities in HIstory: a Reader
Lancaster and de Leonardo,eds. The Gender and Sexuality Reader

For my cultural studies graduate seminar, I used the several of the
above books plus photocpied single articles.

hope this helps.

Amal Amireh
Assistant Professor
English Department
George Mason University
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Michael Warner's The Trouble with Normal might also help.  And the first
couple of chapters of Lisa Duggan's The Twilight of Equality as well as
Alexandra Chasin's Selling Out offer interesting historical overviews of
the shifts from g/l/b identity politics to 'queer' politics.

--Shannon Winnubst
===========================================================================

Michael Kimmel and Rebecca Plante have an edited volume entitled
"Sexualities: Identities, behaviors, and society" that I am using (with
supplements)  with my fourth year undergraduate class this year.

It seems to be pretty comprehensive on empirical issues (including some
cultural diversity/religiosity issues), but it is thin on theory, so it
doesn't always tell students why some questions like identity and
definitional issues might be important for queer politics, for example. Katz
and Fausto-Sterling are in there, but I've added things - some excerpts from
Foucault's History of Sexuality 1, and Seidman's queer theory/sociology
discussion.

As well, I'm coupling the academic text with a really nice (and very
inexpensive) little reader on sexual diversity that covers global issues,
weltpolitics, cultural relativism/postcolonialism, the politics of science
and of social science off quite nicely - although this little book is not
academic, it covers off the topics in a way that is more 'political' and
accessible than some of the Kimmel/Plante selections, offering a great
springboard for a more nuanced development in class discussions. The
students seem to like it.

Here are the citations:

 Sexualities: Identities, Behaviors, and Society. Michael S. Kimmel &
Rebecca F. Plante, editors. New York: Oxford University Press.

The No-Nonsense Guide to Sexual Diversity. Vanessa Baird. London: Verso
Press.

Good luck,
Claudia Malacrida, PhD
Assistant Professor, Sociology
University of Lethbridge
4401 University Drive
Lethbridge, Alberta
T1K 3M4

Tel: 403-329-2738 (w)
Fax: 403-329-2085 (w)
claudia.malacrida  AT  uleth.ca

===========================================================================

The Feminist Press will be publishing a new reader on sexuality in July 2005
titled

25 Sexual Positions: Confessions and Manifestas

This collection is edited by Lisa Walker (Univ. of Southern Maine) and
explores many of the topics, identities, and issues you list, all in one
book. We'll be posting the table of contents when the book is closer to
publication.

Best,
Livia

Livia Tenzer
Editorial Director
The Feminist Press at CUNY
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016
tel. 212-817-7927
fax 212-817-1593
email: ltenzer  AT  gc.cuny.edu
===========================================================================

My recommendation is Sexual lives: A reader on the theories and realities of
human sexualities by Robert Heasley and Betsy Crane (2003). New York:
McGraw-Hill.

M. Lange

************************************

Monica D. Lange, Ph.D.
Department of Women's Studies
California State University Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Blvd.
Long Beach, CA 90840
paradoxmdl  AT  aol.com

===========================================================================

Hi Jessica,

Have you considered using Annamarie Jagose's Queer Theory: An Introduction
(NYU Press, 1997)?  Although it is a few years old, I think it's still a useful
introductory overview of the key issues that contributed to "queer" theories
of sexual identity, including chapters on gay liberation, lesbian feminism, and
critiques of "queer."  It's also fairly short and inexpensive (around $16),
and I just checked on BN.com to make sure that it is still available.  I've
used it successfully in several undergraduate classes.

In introductory gender/sexuality studies classes, I also have used the
reader,  Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Anthology (Brett
Beemyn and Mickey Eliason, eds.; NYU Press, 1996).  The advantage of this book
is that the essays are not at all jargon-y, and so are very accessible to
undergraduates.  Also, the book includes several essays on bisexual issues and on
race issues.

Another text that I have not yet used in the classroom is Sally Munt and Andy
Medhurst's Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical Introduction (London: Cassell,
1997).  It is arranged more or less as a dictionary, with critical entries on
areas of study (literary criticism, film studies,  psychoanalysis, etc.) and
issues (gender performativity, sex debates, camp, class, s-m, etc.). It could
be a good way to anchor the discussion if you assign the classic but more
complexly written essays in, say, the Abelove reader.

About the Abelove, et al, reader: although it contains many of the classic
essays for lesbian & gay studies/queer theory, I, too, have been a bit worried
that it is too dense with jargon for undergraduates in an introductory class.
I'd also be very interested to hear from others who have successfully used the
text in their classes.

Also, if you are assigning Foucault's History of Sexuality, you might want to
take a look at William Turner's A Genealogy of Queer Theory, or put it on
reserve for your students, as it does a good job of situating the impact of
Foucault's work on the development of queer theory in the 1980s and 1990s.

Here is a brief bibliography, including a few texts that I haven't mentioned:

Brett Beemyn and Mickey Eliason, eds.  Queer Studies: A Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Anthology.  NY: New York University Press, 1996.
Annamarie Jagose.  Queer Theory: An Introduction.  NY: New York University
Press, 1997.
Sally Munt and Andy Medhurst.  Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical
Introduction.  London: Cassell, 1997.
William B. Turner.  A Genealogy of Queer Theory.  Philadelphia: Temple
University Press, 2000.
Donald E. Hall.  Queer Theories.  Palgrave, March 2003.
Stephen Valocchi and Robert Corber, eds.  Queer Studies: An Interdisciplinary
Reader.  Blackwell Publishers, 2003.


Feel free to contact me off-list if you'd like to discuss any of this
further.  Good luck with your course!

Best wishes,

Shifra



**********

Shifra Diamond
Doctoral Student
Human Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Program in Language, Culture, and Society
George Washington University
Campus e-mail: sdiamond  AT  gwu.edu
Home e-mail: shifradiam  AT  aol.com
Cell phone: (917) 756-5693

===========================================================================

I've collected together a list of overview texts on sexuality here:
http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/sexgeneral.html#Heading4

See e.g. these (and the full tables of contents for each are on the website
above);

Lebacqz, Karen and David Sinacore-Guinn. (eds). (1999). Sexuality: A Reader.
Cleveland, Ohio: Pilgrim Press.

Travis, Cheryl Brown and White, Jacquelyn W. (eds). (2000). Sexuality,
Society, and Feminism. American Psychological Association.

Best wishes,

michael flood.

===========================================================================

A while back, I asked list members to recommend a
good, comprehensive reader for an undergraduate course
on sexuality.  Below are the responses.  Please note
that I've had to edit comments in order to make this
fit the 225 line maximum for the listserv.
Jessica Nathanson

The Gender/Sexuality Reader. Roger N. Lancaster and
Micaela di Leonardo, eds. New York: Routledge.

middleton's "exotics and erotics" (this is a more
introductory panoramic view of sexuality
cross-culturally)

Queer Studies reader, edited by Corber and Valocchi.
It's published by Blackwell

Sexualities:  Identities, Behavors, and Society, ed.
Michael Kimmel and Rebecca Plante.
Oxford University Press, 2004.   I am using this (with
supplements) with my fourth year undergraduate class
this year.  Another response:  It seems to be pretty
comprehensive on empirical issues (including some
cultural diversity/religiosity issues), but it is thin
on theory, so it doesn't always tell students why some
questions like identity and definitional issues might
be important for queer politics, for example.

The No-Nonsense Guide to Sexual Diversity. Vanessa
Baird. London: Verso
Press.  a really nice (and very inexpensive) little
reader on sexual diversity ( that covers global
issues, weltpolitics, cultural
relativism/postcolonialism, the politics of  science
and of social science off quite nicely - 'political'
and accessible. The students seem to like it.

Our Bodies, Our Selves

"Wrestling with Manhood"  is a great addition for a
class on sexuality.  This film deconstructs how
masculinity is created in a violent, sexist and
homophobic context.  The Media Education Foundation
has a great study guide on their website about the
film.
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/MediaGenderAndDiversity/WrestlingWithManhood

Mindy Stombler, co-edited (with about five others) a
volume called Sex Matters published by Addison
Wesley last year.  It has both popular media and
academic readings on a wide range of issues and is
intended for classroom use.

Some critiques of the ex gay movement are available
from national advocacy groups such as PFLAG, NGLTF,
and HRC.  Also, the conversation currently occurring
in the Lutheran church on sexuality might be a way to
introduce some of these issues with your particular
student body.  The ELCA has a study guide intended for
congregational use and a set of study materials; this
should still be on the ELCA web site.

I am using Suzanne LaFont (2003). Constructing
Sexualities: Readings in Sexuality, Gender, and
Culture. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall ^+
cross-cultural focus; very readable selection of texts
and excellent discussion questions.

Queer Families/Queer Politics: Challenging Culture and
the State eds. Mary Bernstein and Renate Reimann
(Columbia U. Press).

I don't have a reader, but some titles related to the
feminist sex wars and sex-radical feminism are:
Live Sex Acts: Women Performing Erotic Labor by Wendy
Chapkis;
Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, Redefinition
by Kamala Kempadoo and Jo
Doezema
Sex Work: Writings by Women in the Sex Industry by
Frederique Delacoste and Priscilla Alexander
the documentary "Live Nude Girls Unite!" about the
unionization of the Lusty Lady peepshow in San
Francisco.

[NOTE FROM JESSICA:  I like to include, as well, the
anthology,  _Against Sadomasochism:  A Radical
Feminist Analysis_ (Eds Linden, Pagano, Russell, And
Star, Sf:  CA, 1982), so that students can also get a
clear sense of some objections to sex radicalism.
However, this book is out of print and very hard to
find.  The Delacoste and Alexander collection also
presents more than one perspective on sex work, some
positive, some negative, some neutral.]

Michael Warner's Fear of a Queer Planet

Michael Warner's The Trouble with Normal

Williams and Stein, Sexuality and Gender

Weeks, Holland, and Waits, Sexualities and Society: A
Reader.

Donna Stanton, ed. Discourses of Sexuality: From
Aristotle to AIDS

Phillips and Reay, Sexualities in History: a Reader

Lancaster and de Leonardo,eds. The Gender and
Sexuality Reader

The first couple of chapters of Lisa Duggan's The
Twilight of Equality as well as Alexandra Chasin's
Selling Out offer interesting historical overviews of
the shifts from g/l/b identity politics to 'queer'
politics.

The Feminist Press will be publishing a new reader on
sexuality in July 2005 titled 25 Sexual Positions:
Confessions and Manifestas.  This collection is edited
by Lisa Walker (Univ. of Southern Maine) and explores
many of the topics, identities, and issues you list,
all in one book. We'll be posting the table of
contents when the book is closer to
publication.

My recommendation is Sexual lives: A reader on the
theories and realities of human sexualities by Robert
Heasley and Betsy Crane (2003). New York:
McGraw-Hill.

Annamarie Jagose's Queer Theory: An Introduction (NYU
Press, 1997).  a useful introductory overview of the
key issues that contributed to "queer" theories of
sexual identity, including chapters on gay liberation,
lesbian feminism, and critiques of "queer."  It's also
fairly short and inexpensive (around $16), and it is
still available.  I've used it successfully in several
undergraduate classes.

In introductory gender/sexuality studies classes, I
also have used the reader,  Queer Studies: A Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Anthology (Brett Beemyn
and Mickey Eliason, eds.; NYU Press, 1996).  The
advantage of this book is that the essays are not at
all jargon-y, and so are very accessible to
undergraduates.  Also, the book includes several
essays on bisexual issues and on race issues.

Another text that I have not yet used in the classroom
is Sally Munt and Andy
Medhurst's Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Critical
Introduction (London:  Cassell,
1997).  It is arranged more or less as a dictionary,
with critical entries on areas of study (literary
criticism, film studies,  psychoanalysis, etc.) and
issues (gender performativity, sex debates, camp,
class, s-m, etc.). It could be a good way to anchor
the discussion if you assign the classic but more
complexly written essays in, say, the Abelove reader.

About the Abelove, et al, reader: although it contains
many of the classic essays for lesbian & gay
studies/queer theory, I, too, have been a bit worried
that it is too dense with jargon for undergraduates in
an introductory class.  I'd also be very interested to
hear from others who have successfully used the text
in their classes.

Also, if you are assigning Foucault's History of
Sexuality, you might want to take a look at William
Turner's A Genealogy of Queer Theory, as it does a
good job of situating the impact of Foucault's work on
the development of queer theory in the 1980s and
1990s. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000.

Donald E. Hall.  Queer Theories.  Palgrave, March
2003.

Stephen Valocchi and Robert Corber, eds.  Queer
Studies: An Interdisciplinary
Reader.  Blackwell Publishers, 2003.

I've collected together a list of overview texts on
sexuality here:
http://mensbiblio.xyonline.net/sexgeneral.html#Heading4


=====
Jessica Nathanson, Ph.D. American Studies
Concentration, Women's Studies
Instructor, English and Gender Studies
Augustana College
Kilian Community College
janathanson  AT  yahoo.com
===========================================================================