Rethinking Sexual Citizenship

Abstract

Over the last two decades sexuality has emerged as a key theme in debates about citizenship, leading to the development of the concept of sexual citizenship. This article reviews this literature and identifies four main areas of critical framing: work that contests the significance of sexuality to citizenship; critiques that focus on the possibilities and limitations of mobilising the language of citizenship in sexual politics; analyses of sexual citizenship in relation to nationalisms and border making; and literature that critically examines western constructions of sexuality and sexual politics underpinning understandings of sexual citizenship. In order to progress the field theoretically, the article seeks to extend critiques of sexual citizenship focusing on two key aspects of its construction: the sexual citizen-subject and spaces of sexual citizenship. It argues for a critical rethink that encompasses a de-centring of a ‘western-centric’ focus in order to advance understandings of how sexual citizenship operates both in the Global North and South.

Transnational queer sociological analysis of sexual identity and civic‐political activism in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China

“…In the 2000s, both fields became part of what we now call ‘queer studies’ (Cruz‐Malavé and Manalansan ) or ‘critical sexualities studies’ (Plummer ), whose global turn produced the universal model that now dominates understanding of sexual identity (Weeks ). This essentially Western model has since shifted focus from sexual identity to sexual citizenship and a concomitant concern with distinct rights pertaining to conduct, identity and relationships (Richardson ), as manifested in the development of the equal rights‐focused LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer) political movement (hallmarked by the fight for same‐sex marriage), emergence of consumption‐based urban queer enclaves and rise of a ‘global gay identity’ (Altman ) in which the West is positioned as the cultural origin of ‘gayness’.…”

Atitudes e crenças dos estudantes portugueses sobre a homossexualidade: implicações para a cidadania e pedagogia universitárias

“…Este dado é particularmente importante em termos de intervenção, uma vez que a modificação das crenças limitantes (transformando-as em crenças funcionais) poderá dar lugar a atitudes mais positivas em relação à homossexualidade. Nas últimas duas décadas, a sexualidade surgiu fortemente como um tema-chave nos debates sobre cidadania, levando ao desenvolvimento do conceito de cidadania sexual (RICHARDSON, 2017). A cidadania sexual é um conceito multifacetado, compreendido de várias maneiras diferentes, mas cujo foco está numa certa forma de teorizar o acesso a direitos concedidos ou negados a diferentes grupos sociais com base na sexualidade, incluindo, mas não se limitando a, direitos de expressão e identidade sexual (KAPLAN, 1997;RICHARDSON, 2000RICHARDSON, , 2017, sendo esta também necessária para a intervenção.…”

Estigma, subjetividad y ciudadanía sexual en mujeres mexicanas bailarinas de table dance

“…Complementando la idea, Richardson (2015) plantea un cuestionamiento en torno a las otras formas de ciudadanía sexual que pueden surgir, a partir de contextos geo-políticamente diversos -cultural, social, económicos.…”