Cities and Sexualities

by Hubbard; Phil

• ISBN13: 9780415566476
• ISBN10: 0415566479
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2011-11-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

From the hotspots of commercial sex through to the suburbia of twitching curtains, urban life and sexualities appear inseparable. Cities are the source of our most familiar images of sexual practice, and are the spaces where new understandings of sexuality take shape. In an era of global business and tourism, cities are also the hubs around which a global sex trade is organised and where virtual sex content is obsessively produced and consumed. Detailing the relationships between sexed bodies, sexual subjectivities and forms of intimacy, Cities and Sexualitiesexplores the role of the city in shaping our sexual lives. At the same time, it describes how the actions of urban governors, city planners, the police and judiciary combine to produce cities in which some sexual proclivities and tastes are normalised and others excluded. In so doing, it maps out the diverse sexual landscapes of the city - from spaces of courtship, coupling and cohabitation through to sites of adult entertainment, prostitution, and pornography. Considering both the normative geographies of heterosexuality and monogamy, as well as urban geographies of radical/queer sex, this book provides a unique perspective on the relationship between sex and the city. Cities and Sexualitiesoffers a wide overview of the state-of-the-art in geographies and sociologies of sexuality, as well as an empirically-grounded account of the forms of desire that animate the erotic city. It describes the diverse sexual landscapes that characterise both the contemporary Western city as well as cities in the global South. The book features a wide range of boxed case studies as well as suggestions for further reading at the end each chapter. It will appeal to undergraduate students studying Geography, Urban Studies, Gender Studies and Sociology.

Author Biography

Phil Hubbard is Professor of Urban Studies in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, UK.

Table of Contents

List of case studies	p. vi
List of figures	p. viii
Acknowledgements	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Introducing cities and sexualities	p. 1
The moral geographies of sex	p. 33
Domesticating sex	p. 63
Public sex	p. 91
On the town: pleasure and leisure in the nocturnal city	p. 119
Consuming sex: pornographies and adult entertainment	p. 148
World cities of sex	p. 176
Conclusion	p. 204
Bibliography	p. 210
Index	p. 249
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