Overview

Politics and Sex demonstrates how the “private” is also a site of power. The study of politics is traditionally founded on a fundamental distinction between the public and private spheres. Focusing on the particular challenges faced by women, author Edna Keeble interrogates the relationship between the desire to control female sexuality and gender inequality in a broader political context.

This introductory text brings together a diverse collection of issues including body image, body politics, the veiling of women, female genital mutilation or cutting, rape and sexual violence, pornography, and prostitution, and will encourage informed conversations about gender and sexuality in the political science classroom.

Edna Keeble takes a much-needed feminist liberal perspective through which readers can engage with questions of gender, culture, public policy, and human rights. Each chapter is rich with pedagogical features, including lists of recommended films, video clips, websites, and additional readings. Interdisciplinary in nature, this text is a welcome resource for courses in political science, politics and sex, women and politics, and contemporary politics.