GS40080

Cultural diversity as well as sexual and gender diversity are central to our conceptions of men, women, gender, and sexuality. We begin with the understanding that there is no universal category of femininity of masculinity, but in the importance of meaning and context. This module looks at the cultural understandings of sexuality. It will introduce you to critical perspectives and cross-cultural analysis of the way people “negotiate” and exercise resistance to cultural and structural constraints towards sexuality imposed by institutions such as the State, religion, and society at large.

This interdisciplinary module will discuss the production of categories of analysis, such as sex, desire, identity, and gender. It posits sexualities as both, a category of analysis and as a field of study, throughout the 20th century and up to the present. The use of “sexualities” in the plural reflects the myriad of ways in which we can approach the field. The module offers theoretical and methodological tools to understand diversity within the field of sexuality studies. The primary goal of this module is to understand sexuality as a social organization of society. Sexuality goes beyond the personal and subjective experience of desire and intimacy. It is not a private matter; it is a public, political and contested arena in which to analyse power relations. The module conceives sexual and gender oppression as structural factors and examines the role of social justice and human rights movements in advocating for a “sexual subject” and sexual citizenship.

About the module coordinator and lecturer:
Dr. Ernesto Vasquez del Aguila is an Assistant Professor/Ad Astra Fellow at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. By background he is a medical anthropologist with a PhD from Columbia University, New York. His research expertise spans the topics of Masculinities, Migration, Sexualities, Ageing and Global Health based on research undertaken in Latin America, Ireland, and the USA. His latest publications include Unsustainable Institutions of Men: Transnational Dispersed Centres, Gender Power, Contradictions (Routledge 2019) and Being a Man in a Transnational World: The Masculinity and Sexuality of Migration (Routledge 2014). He has previously taught at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (Lima, Peru); Georgetown University (Washington, DC, USA); and at the University of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines).