EMBATTLED EROS CL (Thinking Gender) - Hardcover
In the 1990s Americans are divided on virtually every issue surrounding sexuality. Emotion and political passion have come to dominate sexual matters, and the debates on teenage pregnancy, pornography, homosexuality, abortion, and AIDS reveal deep social conflicts. The sexual sphere is so entangled that it defies analysis or even description.
In Embattled Eros Steven Seidman seeks to clarify some of the major dynamics and patterns of contemporary American intimate culture. He shows that at the root of the major conflicts are two sexual ideologies, the libertarian and the romanticist. Examining the strengths and limits of each ideology, he suggests broad outlines for a sexual ethic that goes beyond the current polarization.
In part one Seidman argues that we should reject our usual way of looking at recent history--a sexual revolution in the '60s followed by a conservative backlash in the '80s, an ongoing struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of repression. Between the '60s and the '80s he argues, there transpired neither a sexual revolution nor counter-revolution but a heightened conflict over the meaning of sex, its relation to pleasure, romance, and self-identity, its proper moral role in private and public life.
In part two Seidman's primary purpose is to analyze moral arguments over sexual norms and practices. He chooses the sex debates that occurred within feminism and the gay male community in the late '70s through the '80s as his sites for moral engagement, as it is here that the debate over sexual ethics has been given its fullest elaboration.
In conclusion, Seidman offers a pragmatic ethic that revolves around the concept of sexual and social responsibility as a bridge between libertarians and romanticists. The main issue is how to preserve the expansive notion of sexual choice, diversity, and pleasure contained in the libertarian ethic yet also retain standards that allow us to offer social and personal criticisms of intimate life.
Building on the work presented in Romantic Longings, the author's history of intimacy in the United States, Embattled Eros presents a sophisticated yet accessible analysis of contemporary sexual life and its moral conflicts. Emphasizing feminist and lesbian and gay issues, the book is for all readers interested in contemporary sexuality.
In Embattled Eros Steven Seidman seeks to clarify some of the major dynamics and patterns of contemporary American intimate culture. He shows that at the root of the major conflicts are two sexual ideologies, the libertarian and the romanticist. Examining the strengths and limits of each ideology, he suggests broad outlines for a sexual ethic that goes beyond the current polarization.
In part one Seidman argues that we should reject our usual way of looking at recent history--a sexual revolution in the '60s followed by a conservative backlash in the '80s, an ongoing struggle between the forces of freedom and the forces of repression. Between the '60s and the '80s he argues, there transpired neither a sexual revolution nor counter-revolution but a heightened conflict over the meaning of sex, its relation to pleasure, romance, and self-identity, its proper moral role in private and public life.
In part two Seidman's primary purpose is to analyze moral arguments over sexual norms and practices. He chooses the sex debates that occurred within feminism and the gay male community in the late '70s through the '80s as his sites for moral engagement, as it is here that the debate over sexual ethics has been given its fullest elaboration.
In conclusion, Seidman offers a pragmatic ethic that revolves around the concept of sexual and social responsibility as a bridge between libertarians and romanticists. The main issue is how to preserve the expansive notion of sexual choice, diversity, and pleasure contained in the libertarian ethic yet also retain standards that allow us to offer social and personal criticisms of intimate life.
Building on the work presented in Romantic Longings, the author's history of intimacy in the United States, Embattled Eros presents a sophisticated yet accessible analysis of contemporary sexual life and its moral conflicts. Emphasizing feminist and lesbian and gay issues, the book is for all readers interested in contemporary sexuality.
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Review:
"...lucid, graceful and sensible...Siedman's treatment usefully deepens our understanding of some contemporary sexual controversies.." -- David F. Greenberg.Ph.D. Archives of Sexual Behavior - 1998
"This is an important book that bravely tackles perhaps the key question on modern sexual politics: in the post-modern flux, where old certainties have collapsed, on what foundations can a progressive sexual ethics be built? In a lively analysis, Steven Seidman takes us beyond romanticism and libertarianism to an ethics where consent and responsibility become the crucial guidelines for a culture in which sexual diversity is the norm. This book is a major contribution to the ongoing sexuality debate, and will surely become one of its key texts." -- Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Social Relations, Bristol Polytechnic, England.
"This is an important book that bravely tackles perhaps the key question on modern sexual politics: in the post-modern flux, where old certainties have collapsed, on what foundations can a progressive sexual ethics be built? In a lively analysis, Steven Seidman takes us beyond romanticism and libertarianism to an ethics where consent and responsibility become the crucial guidelines for a culture in which sexual diversity is the norm. This book is a major contribution to the ongoing sexuality debate, and will surely become one of its key texts." -- Jeffrey Weeks, Professor of Social Relations, Bristol Polytechnic, England.
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- PublisherOther
- Publication date1992
- ISBN 10 0415903564
- ISBN 13 9780415903561
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages220
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Embattled Eros : Sexual Politics and Ethics in Contemporary America
Published by
Routledge
(1992)
ISBN 10: 0415903564
ISBN 13: 9780415903561
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