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Sinking into his Arms … Arms in his Sink: Heterosexuality and Feminism Revisited

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Sexualizing the Social

Part of the book series: Explorations in Sociology. ((EIS))

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with debates about heterosexuality and feminism. In particular, it focuses on the argument — made in writing and in verbal discussions, and to varying degrees — that heterosexuality is central to the practice of male dominance and to women’s oppression (and is thus contradictory to feminist practice) and that lesbianism constitutes a feminist political practice (although not all lesbians are feminists). Some proponents of this argument were (and are) talking about specific sexual practices; others, about a more general way of life which may or may not include sex. In the past year or so, new academic attention has been brought to this topic with the publication of Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger’s special issue of Feminism and Psychology in 1992 (and the subsequent Reader, 1993) on the topic of heterosexuality.

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© 1996 British Sociological Association

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VanEvery, J. (1996). Sinking into his Arms … Arms in his Sink: Heterosexuality and Feminism Revisited. In: Adkins, L., Merchant, V. (eds) Sexualizing the Social. Explorations in Sociology.. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-24549-9_3

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