The Globalization of Sexuality

by Jon Binnie

`Lively and engaging… the themes of the chapters are well chosen and cover areas in which several key debates have taken place′ - Nina Wakeford, University of Surrey What are the relations between homosexuality, globalization and social theory? Why has the debate on globalization paid so little attention to questions of sexuality? This timely and stimulating book explores the relationships between the national state, globalization and sexual dissidence. The book focuses on several key test issues to exploit and develop · queer mobility · migration and tourism · the economics of queer globalization · queer politics of post-colonialism · the spatial politics of AIDS · queer cosmopolitanism · nationhood and sexual citizenship. The book regains an important human dimension that has been conspicuously neglected in the wider debate on globalization.

Genres: Sexuality

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book attempts to understand sexuality in the age globalisation. Written in 2004, many arguments made are still relevant today; and some, though perhaps less relevant, are particularly thought-provoking. For instance, the author mentioned time and again the emergence of the EU as an actor in globalisation and the Europeanisation of politics in the UK - in what ways, then, is sexuality reconfigured at a national (UK), transnational (EU) and global scale post-Brexit (and indeed, in a world that is increasingly dividing)?

I am particularly fascinated by the author's critical examination of the discourses around the pink economy (Chapter 4), which is furthered developed in Chapter 6 on queer mobility (migration and tourism). For me, Chapter 6 is the most interesting one. The author is critical about the overstatement of the queers' free movement across national boarders often celebrated in queer tourism, as well as the emphasis on the barriers established by nation-states that denies queer people's transnational movement. Proposing to think queer migration and queer tourism together, the author is urging a more nuanced understanding of queer mobility.

What I like most about this book is that the author returns again and again throughout the book to the notion of class, which seems to have become less visible in today's discussion on equality (compared to, for instance, the notion of race). 'Class', however, is an imperative category to explore in understanding the interlocking nature of oppression, alongside gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, dis/ability etc.

The downside of the book, however, is that some discussion could have been further developed so that the arguments would appear clearer and more prominent (the book includes a wide range of issues relevant to queer globalisation but does not have a great length). Another issue would be that the entire book is relied on previous studies - the constant shift between different studies to develop an argument sometimes make it uneasy to follow (especially when these studies look into, for instance, different contexts). But this also means that this book has referred me to a great deal of useful relevant literature.