The Sexual Self: The Construction of Sexual Scripts

Stevi Jackson; Ken Plummer; Rebecca F. Plante; Peter M. Nardi; Jeffrey Escoffier; Pepper Schwartz; Arlene Stein; Barry D. Adam; Anke A. Ehrhardt

ISBN 10: 0826515592 / ISBN 13: 9780826515599

Published by Vanderbilt University Press, 2007

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 7910570

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Sexual Self: The Construction of Sexual Scripts
• Publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0826515592
• ISBN 13: 9780826515599
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In the late 1960s two sociologists, John Gagnon and William Simon, developed the concept of sexual scripts as part of a larger project of treating sexuality like any other social phenomenon. In the end, their vision of social construction turned Kinsey on his head, and their model became the dominant paradigm of social science inquiry into human sexuality, and spurred the development of an entire field of Sexuality Studies. Sexual activity, they argued, was like other social processes, yet one of increasing importance in the construction of the self. Michael Kimmel has gathered together essays from three generations of scholars influenced by this perspective on sexuality. These include many of the foremost social scientists writing and researching sexuality today. The book begins with Kimmel's reflections on the unusual careers of Gagnon and Simon, examines the construction of both sexual identity and sexual behaviors in a variety of settings, and ends with the two of them speaking in their own provocative voices about their perspective in interviews conducted originally for a German journal in 1998.

About the Author

Michael Kimmel, professor of sociology, SUNY Stony Brook, is author of The Gendered Society, The Gender of Desire, and Manhood in America, among other books.