Moral Panics, Sex Panics

Gilbert Herdt is Professor and Founder of the Department of Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University and author of Guardians of the Flutes, Third Sex, Third Gender, and Secrecy and Cultural Reality.

The authors here provide thorough accounts of contemporary social and sexual issues that dominate social consciousness, media and politics . . . the book offers a modern synopsis of how sex and sexuality continue to be embedded in political, educational and social debates. - Lindsay Sprague (Social Anthropology) Abortion, AIDS, non marital sex, homosexuality, pornography, contraception, sexual rights, and the rest have posed persistent threats and challenges across the world for some time. & Sex stands as a major political and moral symbol that marks boundaries and shapes change in cultures.Here an outstanding group of social scientists give a firm focus to the culture wars and moral panics that split cultures and speak to persistent and deep divides round the world. The essays in this timely volume provide critical insights to the battle lines that must be overcome for a new world to flourish. - Ken Plummer,author of Intimate Citizenship: Private Decisions and Public Dialogues Nowadays panic seems to be everywherefrom homeland security to economic crisisyet sexual topics seem to prompt the most extreme episodes of fear, loathing, indignation, and overreaction. How do sex panics unfold? How can defenders of sexual rights respond effectively? In this state-of-the-art volume, noted scholars of sexuality take a big step forward in addressing these questions while zooming in on crucial topics such as reproductive rights, sex education, AIDS, same-sex marriage, and the politics of race and empire. - Steven Epstein,author of Impure Science: AIDS, Activism, and the Politics of Knowledge This is a very important book. If you want to understand the state of sexuality politics in this countryand have a hope of reversing moral panics and public liesyou need to read this book! - Pepper Schwartz,author of Prime: Adventures and Advice about Sex, Love and the Sensual Years Smart analysis and crucial advice in a timely academic call to arms. (Between the Lines) Individuals and activist groups committed to the progressive struggle for cultural and sexual freedoms will find smart analysis and crucial advice in a timely academic call to arms. (Gay and Lesbian Times) Moral Panics, Sex Panicsis a valuable interdisciplinary contribution to emotion, media, and gender studies. (H-Net Reviews) In this six-essay collection, with an astute introduction from editor Herdt, social scientists and scholars of sexuality dissect where such loathing for personal freedoms originates, how maniacally it is deployed and whether there is an effective response to the fomented onslaught of anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-sexual moral Puritanism. (Pittsburghs Out)

• Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Moral Panics, Sexual Rights, and Cultural Anger Gilbert Herdt 2. The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexuality: Reproductive Rights and Sexuality Education During the Bush Years Diane DiMauro & Carole Joffe 3. Black Sexuality, Indigenous Moral Panics, and Respectability: From Bill Cosby to the Down Low Cathy J. Cohen 4. The "Gay Plague" Revisited: AIDS and its Enduring Moral Panic Gary W. Dowsett 5. Gay Marriage: The Panic and the Right Gilbert Herdt 6. Postcolonial Amnesia: Sexual Moral Panics, Memory and Imperial Power Saskia Eleonora Wieringa 7. Transient Feelings: Sex Panics and the Politics of Emotions Janice M. Irvine Contributors Index