Sexuality

Sexuality involves more than sexual behavior or sex. It refers to anything relating to the erotic, to sexual desires, practices, relations, and meanings, and it underpins social institutions, kinship, and living arrangements. In social science discourse, sexuality is regarded as a social rather than a natural fact. Sexuality is not simply rooted in the body, but in life-forms that are variably shaped by specific historical, political, economic, cultural, and social circumstances. The meanings of the sexual and the experiences of sexuality change. Consumer culture has been identified as a crucial backdrop to sexuality in late-modern societies, and, in turn, sexuality serves as a major engine of consumer culture. Sexual appetites are aroused to enhance consumers' desires for goods, and sex(uality) itself is commodified in manifold ...