Synopses & Reviews
An Interpretation of Desire offers a bracing collection of major essays by John Gagnon, one of the leading and most inspiring figures in sexual research. Spanning his work from the 1970s, when he explored the idea that sexuality is mediated through social processes and categoriesand#8212;thus paving the way for Foucaultand#8212;and then extending through his turn to issues of desire during the 1990s, these essays constitute an essential entrandeacute;e to the study of sexuality in the twentieth century.
Gagnon may be best known as the coauthor of Sexual Conductand#8212;a book that introduced the seminal concept of sexual scriptingand#8212;and as one of the coauthors of The Social Organization of Sexuality, a foundational work that is widely considered to be the most important study of human sexual behavior since the Kinsey report. The essays collected here first trace the influence of scripting theory on Gagnon, outlining the radical departure he took from the dominant biological and psychiatric models of sex research. The volume then turns to more recent essays that consider such vexed issues as homosexuality, the theories of Sigmund Freud, HIV, hazardous sex, and the social aspects of sexually transmitted diseases.
Synopsis
An Interpretation of Desire offers a bracing collection of major essays by John Gagnon, one of the leading and most inspiring figures in sexual research. Spanning his work from the 1970s, when he explored the idea that sexuality is mediated through social processes and categories--thus paving the way for Foucault--and then extending through his turn to issues of desire during the 1990s, these essays constitute an essential entrée to the study of sexuality in the twentieth century.
Gagnon may be best known as the coauthor of Sexual Conduct--a book that introduced the seminal concept of sexual scripting--and as one of the coauthors of The Social Organization of Sexuality, a foundational work that is widely considered to be the most important study of human sexual behavior since the Kinsey report. The essays collected here first trace the influence of scripting theory on Gagnon, outlining the radical departure he took from the dominant biological and psychiatric models of sex research. The volume then turns to more recent essays that consider such vexed issues as homosexuality, the theories of Sigmund Freud, HIV, hazardous sex, and the social aspects of sexually transmitted diseases.
About the Author
John Gagnon is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of numerous works, including Human Sexualities, Life Designs, and The Social Organization of Sexuality, the latter published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
PrefaceForeword, by Jeffrey Escoffier
Prologue
An Unlikely Story (1990)
Part One: Scripts, Conduct, and Science
Sex Research and Social Change (1975)
Scripts and the Coordination of Sexual Conduct (1974)
Reconsiderations: The Kinsey Reports (1978)
Science and the Politics of Pathology (1987)
Gender Preference in Erotic Relations: The Kinsey Scale and Sexual Scripts (1990)
The Explicit and Implicit Use of the Scripting Perspective in Sex Research (1991)
Part Two: The Quest for Desire
Disease and Desire (1989)
Theorizing Risky Sex (2000)
Epidemics and Researchers: AIDS and the Practice of Social Studies 1992)
Captain Cook and the Penetration of the Pacific (1997)
Who Was That Girl? (2000)
Epilogue
Sexual Conduct Revisited (1998)
References
Index