This book makes the argument that media where sex is the primary focus are a good starting point for thinking about sexuality and gender, the body, fantasy and representation. They provide interesting ways of considering how policy and regulation work, how norms, customs and values develop, how media are increasingly part of public and private life, and thinking about the changing place of sex in contemporary society.

 

The book begins with an overview of what is meant by sex, gender and sexuality and how ideas about these have been changed and challenged in recent years. It moves to questions of regulation, showing how this often operates according to a sexual double standard that works to restrict and shame sexual minorities and young people, and which is part of a broader move towards the increased surveillance of people’s creative and fantasy worlds.

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It considers the claim that contemporary mainstream media and culture have become ‘sexualized’, showing how this argument does little to explain the experiences of women or young people or the increasingly diverse range of sexual communities, representations and ideas around sex. It examines a range of sex media types and their relation to art, mainstream culture and entertainment. It ends with a discussion of the relation of sex media to labour and leisure, sexual health, sexual ethics, sex education, and sexual citizenship.​