Abstract
It is now over twenty years since queer theory first appeared, challenging academics and activists to question the very foundations of sexualities research. Queer theory provided a critical impetus that disconcerted as much as it enthused. Yet for some it remained an abstract, largely discursive approach that ignored many of the important insights made by earlier generations of sociologists. To what extent has this criticality remained imperative in studies of sexuality? More recently, new forms of materialist analysis have become more prominent. Intersectionality has become a defining feature of much sexuality research over the last ten years. Others still have continued to draw on micro-sociological theories, particularly interactionism, whilst psychoanalytic theories continue to be central for many. What use are these and other theories? Does sexuality research have any defining theoretical characteristics or is its diversity one of its strengths? Similarly, how is sexuality studied methodologically? What methods are in use? How are we innovating, methodologically, in the study of sexuality? Many sexualities studies within the social sciences have been dominated by qualitative research. Yet, what impact, if any, has the increase in mixed methodologies had on the study of sexuality? Is sexuality research still largely defined by qualitative approaches? To what extent, if any, do we promote participants’ engagement with our studies, in line with emancipatory research? And how can our theoretical and methodological choices enable wider dissemination and social impact? This collection is being proposed as part of the ‘Advances in Critical Diversities’ series. With its focus on exploring sexualities through diverse theoretical and methodological lenses and with diverse practical applications and concerns the collection speaks to the aim of the series: to provide an exciting new publishing space to critically consider practices, meanings and understandings of "diversity," inequality and identity across time and place. In doing so, the proposed collection draws together an eclectic range of chapters written by key established academics and new and vibrant emerging scholars emanating from institutions in a diverse range of countries, including: the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. The book, therefore, has international appeal, and in order to extend this further it includes an afterward by leading North American scholars who will engage with the approaches adopted amongst the chapters in the collection. The book is divided into a number of sections. The chapters in the first section are primarily concerned with theoretical questioning. Chapters in the second section discuss methodological aspects of doing sexuality research, whilst those in the final section are concerned with the social and political impacts of researching sexualities.