Gender and sexuality I

Abstract

This report considers gender diversity across a range of spaces and places. I note that while the notion of gender has been troubled, there exist opportunities to trouble it further. I highlight the scholarship that has sought to deconstruct genders, and the binary framing of man/woman and male/female roles and relationships. The queering of sexuality has meant that geographers are now tracing the ways in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ) bodies experience and live their gender beyond normative binaries. Research concerned with relational gendered subjectivities within LGBTIQ communities is discussed, and I flag the trend that this research may conflate gendered experiences while privileging sexual subjectivities. Finally, I turn to the recent interest by geographers who -drawing on queer and trans* theoriesargue for new and innovative understandings of gender diversity.

Beyond Binary: (Re)Defining “Gender” for 21st Century Disaster Risk Reduction Research, Policy, and Practice

“…Researchers and practitioners need to utilize the growing body of work on gender beyond the familiar binary, diversity of sex characteristics, and the issues related to imposing overly restrictive categories on diverse experiences [68] and apply it to disaster scholarship and policy. A simple and effective starting point will be for the UNDRR to adopt the definitions of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics captured in the preambles of YP and YP+10 as a guide for future disaster research and policy.…”

“…Finally we advocate for DRR researchers and practitioners to utilize the growing body of work on gender diversity and issues concerning the gender binary [68], incorporating indigenous studies and scholarship on decolonizing gender identities, expressions, and experiences, as well as the scientific literature on more nuanced views on sex and sex diversity [23]. Within this, researchers must address methodological and safety concerns relevant to SGM for the countries and cultures under consideration and recognize where these may constitute limitations to participation and findings.…”

Here, there, everywhere: The relational geographies of chemsex

“…This leads to the third contribution of the paper; that is, bringing back sex itself into the core of the analysis within geographies of sexualities, notably one of the practices that has created most controversial public debates in recent years in many countries around the globe. Geographies of sexualities have increasingly become a legitimate field of studies, but despite its popularity, the engagement with sexual practices has remained limited (Bell, 2007; Binnie, 1997; Brown et al, 2011; Brown & Di Feliciantonio, 2022; for some exceptions see Bain & Nash, 2006; Bonner‐Thompson, 2017, 2021; Brown, 2008a; Di Feliciantonio, 2019; Gurney, 2000; Langarita, 2019; Misgav & Johnston, 2014; Sanders‐McDonagh, 2017), its main focus being on identities (Binnie & Valentine, 1999; Brown, 2012; Browne et al, 2007; Johnston, 2016). Conceptualising spaces and subjectivities as always emerging and provisional (Jones, 2009), the relational understanding of place adopted in the paper allows us to explore what bodies can do in the ‘messiness’ of sexual desire (Brown, 2008a; Lim, 2007), reaffirming the spatial character of sexual practices as they are ‘assembled through a myriad of materials (human and non‐human, organic and inorganic) and expressive forces (moods, emotions, intensities and affects)’ (Bonner‐Thompson, 2021, p. 452).…”

Gender and sexuality II

“…This report, my second on gender and sexuality (Johnston, 2015), is not merely about marriage; rather, it is about the ways in which feminist and queer geographers -as researchers of activism and as activists -find themselves treading a line between 'respectability' and radical disruptive change in navigating the 'equalities landscapes' (Podmore, 2013: 265). The debate about marriage is, however, a useful starting point as it potentially opens up closer examinations of bodies, love, sexual intimacy, gender, families, belonging and sexual citizenship.…”