This proposed book is an anthology of both original and reprinted articles on sexuality from a sociological perspective. The readings in this collection focus on the diverse and multi-layered meanings of sexuality, sexual behaviors and sexual identities. The essays in this book will explore sexuality as a social process. As a whole, the book takes the perspective that what each of us understands to be sexual is constructed through everyday social processes and interaction, situated in particular spaces and moments, identified through our social-sexual presentations, and symbolized through language, objects and practices. The book is organized around these four distinct but interrelated processes, and augmented by personal narratives around relevant issues. The purpose of this book is to broaden students' perspectives on sexuality by providing them with a consistent framework to help them understand sexualities as social phenomena. The authors' goals for the book are: to engage students in the sociological enterprise by providing interesting and insightful entries that emphasize the importance of meaning-making in human sexuality, and to provide them with conceptual tools to understand human sexuality in a complex and quickly-changing sexual landscape.

Painting Desire Pink: Meaning-Making at a Romance Sex Store

Painting Desire Pink: Meaning-Making at a Romance Sex Store

Painting desire pink: Meaning-Making at a romance sex store
Alison Better

In this chapter, I look at how sex stores use symbols to create meaning in the retail environment to sell women sexual pleasure, sexual empowerment, and potential pleasures for their partners as well. In my research, I have found sex stores marketing romance and sexuality to women in ways that mirror socially acceptable femininity and sexuality. Through an examination of a sex store focused on romance and marketing primarily to a female clientele in an upscale urban shopping area, I will shed light on a space of sexual commerce and how this attempts to shape women's sexual understandings and choices. I ...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles