Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era PDF
Preview Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era
EMERGENT IDENTITIES Examining the emergence of new sexual and gender identities in the context of an ever-changing digital landscape, Emergent Identities considers how traditional, binary understandings of sexuality and gender are being challenged and overridden by a taxonomy of non-binary, fluid classifications and descriptors. In this comprehensive account of the ongoing shift in our understandings of gender and sexuality, Cover explores how and why traditional masculine/ feminine and hetero/homo dichotomies are quickly being replaced with identity labels such as heteroflexible, bigender, non-binary, asexual, sapiosexual, demisexual, ciswoman and transcurious. Drawing on real-world data, Cover considers how new ways of perceiving relationships, attraction and desire are contesting authorised, institutional knowledge on gender and sexuality. The book explores the role that digital communication practices have played in these developments and considers the implications of these new approaches for identity, individuality, creativity, media, healthcare and social belonging. A timely response to recent developments in the field of gender identity, this will be a fascinating read for students of Psychology, Gender Studies, Media and Cultural Studies, and related areas as well as professionals in this field. Rob Cover is Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia. Gender and Sexualities in Psychology Series Editors: Elizabeth Peel and Elizabeth Stokoe Gender and Sexualities in Psychology is a book series showcasing scholarly work over a wide range of areas within gender and sexualities in psychology, and the intersec- tion of gender, feminism, sexualities and LGBTIQ psychology with other areas of the discipline. The series includes theoretically and empirically informed scholarship, including critical, feminist, queer, trans, social and intersectional perspectives, and encourages creative and innovative methodological approaches. The series adopts an inclusive approach to the discipline of psychology, as well as its cross-cutting relationship to related disciplines, and recognises diversity in research on genders and sexualities. Titles in the series: Emergent Identities New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era Rob Cover For further information about this series please visit: www.routledge.com/ Gender-and-Sexualities-in-Psychology/book-series/GSP EMERGENT IDENTITIES New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era Rob Cover First published 2019 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2019 Rob Cover The right of Rob Cover to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Title: Emergent identities : new sexualities, genders and relationships in a digital era / Rob Cover. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. Identifiers: LCCN 2018020275 (print) | LCCN 2018036367 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138098589 (hbk) | ISBN 9781138098619 (pbk) | ISBN 9781315104348 (ebk) Subjects: LCSH: Gender identity. | Internet—Social aspects. Classification: LCC HQ1075 (ebook) | LCC HQ1075 .C675 2019 (print) | DDC 305.3—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020275 ISBN: 978-1-138-09858-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-09861-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-10434-8 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Apex CoVantage, LLC For two great scholars who, in different ways, have taught me so much on how to think about emerging cultures, gender, sexuality and relationships and who have played pivotal roles in addressing issues of gender and sexual justice, politics, health, inclusion and ethics: Dennis Altman and Peter Aggleton. And particularly for the many young people I have had the privilege of chatting with across many recent research projects whose insights persistently challenge the “easier” and “comfortable” ways of thinking and being. CONTENTS Acknowledgements viii 1 Introduction: new post-binary sexualities and genders for a digital era 1 2 New identity labels: towards a new sexual and gender taxonomy 14 3 Expanding the range: grids, matrices and the role of gender and relationships 50 4 Identity citizenship: authenticity, intersectionality and a new populism 63 5 Queer choice: sexuality and the emerging discourses of choosing and changing 97 6 New heterosexualities: digital media and an adaptable heteromasculinity 131 7 Implications: what can emergent identities do? 152 Index 160 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research underpinning this book has benefitted from countless valuable con- versations with peers, students, research participants and friends in many settings around the world. I would like to thank at the University of Western Australia: Kirsty Herbert, Jess Gilbert, Duc Dau, Alison Bartlett, Terri-ann White, Paige Champion, Alicia Ettlin, Lin Malone, Gemma Bothe, Crystal Abidin and Hasrul Hashim. Thinking about this topic has benefitted enormously by the support, kindness and engagement of colleagues and participants in the Australian Research Council Discovery project Queer Generations: Peter Aggleton, Mary Lou Rasmussen, Dan- iel Marshall, Christy Newman, Toby Lea, Kyra Clarke, Clare Southerton and Ben Hegarty, as well as our many wonderful participants and advocates in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Through the Fay Gale Centre for Research on Gender in Adelaide, South Australia, Ros Prosser, Chris Beasley, Barbara Baird and Veronika Petroff have been remarkably encouraging in helping to think through the implications of new languages and ways of speaking about gender and sexuality. Within the Matariki Risk Humanities Network, I have had opportunities to present aspects of this work and have gained valuable insights into approaching gender and sexuality from a range of perspectives from Marc Botha, Jules Sturm, Francisco-J. Hernández Adrián, Don Kulick and Simon During. Through the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Resilience in Service Providers project, my approach to thinking through health and education service provider implica- tions has been enhanced by many wonderful conversations with Steve Reid, Janet Giddy, Pamela Fisher, Qiaobing Wu and Joseph Tak-Fai Lau. Through the Digital Stereotypes project, again wonderful insights come directly from colleagues Kath Albury, Brady Robards, Jane Lydon, Amy Dobson, Crystal Abidin, Son Vivienne, Kai Schweizer, Leigh Hill and Ian Johnson. I would also like to thank the Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA), the Australian Forum on Sexuality, Education and Health (AFSEH), Acknowledgements ix the Centre for Social Research in Health (CSRH) at the University of New South Wales, and Swinburne and Curtin Universities for hosting progress talks and work- shops with service providers and community members on this topic where gener- ous feedback has been very useful. Finally, greatest thanks as always to Jeff Williams, who has been endlessly patient with me and my many, many moments of excitement raving on about each new identity label. Nascent versions of work that appear in this text have been published elsewhere. A very early version of some sections in Chapter 6 appears in a special issue of Men and Masculinities, 2015, ‘Heterodox Heterosexual Masculinities’, ed. Christine Beasley. Some parts of Chapters 2 and 4 appear in earlier forms in Talburt, S., ed., Youth Sexualities: Public Feelings and Contemporary Cultural Politics and in Aggleton, P., Cover, R., Leahy, D., Marshall, D. and Rasmussen, M.L., Young People and Sexual Citizenship.
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