Jeffrey Weeks (sociologist)

Last updated

Jeffrey Weeks OBE (born 1945, in Rhondda, Wales) is a gay activist and an historian and sociologist specialising in work on sexuality.

Contents

Career

Weeks is among the academics in the early period of gay men's studies in Britain that emerged from the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) which he joined in 1970 and the Gay Left of which he was a founding member. [1]

Weeks is the author of several books, including Coming Out (Quartet, 1977), a study of the history of homosexual politics in Britain, [2] Sex, Politics and Society (Longman, 1981), and Sexuality and Its Discontents (Routledge, 1985).

He has been on the editorial board of several journals including History Workshop Journal , the Journal of the History of Sexuality , the Journal of Homosexuality , and Victorian Studies .

He was the Executive Dean of Arts and Human Sciences at London South Bank University (2003–2008). He was also the Director of the Social Policy and Urban Regeneration Research Institute (SPUR) in 2005–2009. He was featured in the 2017 Pinc List of leading LGBTQ figures in Wales. [3]

Weeks was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to social science. [4]

Authored books

Related Research Articles

Queer theory is the perspective that questions the perception that cisgender and heterosexual identities are in any sense “standard.” It revisits such fields as literary analysis, philosophy, and politics with a “queer” approach.

<i>The History of Sexuality</i> Four-volume book by Michel Foucault

The History of Sexuality is a four-volume study of sexuality in the Western world by the French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault, in which the author examines the emergence of "sexuality" as a discursive object and separate sphere of life and argues that the notion that every individual has a sexuality is a relatively recent development in Western societies. The first volume, The Will to Knowledge, was first published in 1976; an English translation appeared in 1978. The Use of Pleasure, and The Care of the Self, were published in 1984. The fourth volume, Confessions of the Flesh, was published posthumously in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-heterosexual</span> Sexual orientation other than heterosexual

Non-heterosexual is a word for a sexual orientation or sexual identity that is not heterosexual. The term helps define the "concept of what is the norm and how a particular group is different from that norm". Non-heterosexual is used in feminist and gender studies fields as well as general academic literature to help differentiate between sexual identities chosen, prescribed and simply assumed, with varying understanding of implications of those sexual identities. The term is similar to queer, though less politically charged and more clinical; queer generally refers to being non-normative and non-heterosexual. Some view the term as being contentious and pejorative as it "labels people against the perceived norm of heterosexuality, thus reinforcing heteronormativity". Still, others say non-heterosexual is the only term useful to maintaining coherence in research and suggest it "highlights a shortcoming in our language around sexual identity"; for instance, its use can enable bisexual erasure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philosophy of sex</span> Overview about the philosophy of sex

Philosophy of sex is an aspect of applied philosophy involved with the study of sex and love. It includes both ethics of phenomena such as prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, sexual identity, the age of consent, homosexuality, and conceptual analysis of more universal questions such as "what is sex?" It also includes matters of sexuality and sexual identity and the ontological status of gender. Leading contemporary philosophers of sex include Alan Soble, Judith Butler, and Raja Halwani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zygmunt Bauman</span> Polish sociologist and philosopher (1925–2017)

Zygmunt Bauman was a Polish sociologist and philosopher. He was driven out of the Polish People's Republic during the 1968 Polish political crisis and forced to give up his Polish citizenship. He emigrated to Israel; three years later he moved to the United Kingdom. He resided in England from 1971, where he studied at the London School of Economics and became Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds, later Emeritus. Bauman was a social theorist, writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terminology of homosexuality</span> History of terms used to describe homosexuality

Terms used to describe homosexuality have gone through many changes since the emergence of the first terms in the mid-19th century. In English, some terms in widespread use have been sodomite, Achillean, Sapphic, Uranian, homophile, lesbian, gay, effeminate, queer, homoaffective, and same-gender attracted. Some of these words are specific to women, some to men, and some can be used of either. Gay people may also be identified under the umbrella terms LGBT.

The connection between left-leaning ideologies and LGBT rights struggles has a long and mixed history. Prominent socialists who were involved in early struggles for LGBT rights include Edward Carpenter, Oscar Wilde, Harry Hay, Bayard Rustin, Emma Goldman and Daniel Guérin, among others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Male prostitution</span> Act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment

Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male prostitutes have been far less studied than female prostitutes by researchers. Even so, male prostitution has an extensive history including regulation through homosexuality, conceptual developments on sexuality, and the HIV/AIDS, monkeypox, and COVID-19 epidemic impact. In the last century, male sex work has seen various advancements such as popularizing new sexual acts, methods of exchange, and carving out a spot in cinema.

<i>Greek Homosexuality</i> (book) 1978 book by Kenneth Dover

Greek Homosexuality is a book about homosexuality in ancient Greece by the classical scholar Kenneth Dover, in which the author uses archaic and classical archaeological and literary sources to discuss ancient Greek sexual behavior and attitudes. He addresses the iconography of vase paintings, the speeches in the law courts, and the comedies of Aristophanes, as well as the content of other literary and philosophical source texts.

Dennis Patkin Altman is an Australian academic and gay rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Sakwa</span> British political scientist

Richard Sakwa is a British political scientist and a former professor of Russian and European politics at the University of Kent, a senior research fellow at the National Research University-Higher School of Economics in Moscow, and an honorary professor in the Faculty of Political Science at Moscow State University. He has written books about Russian, Central and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.

Sheila Jeffreys is a former professor of political science at the University of Melbourne, born in England. A lesbian feminist scholar, she analyses the history and politics of human sexuality.

Sexual meanings are the meanings that are attributed, by a particular cultural-social-historical context, to sexual acts and broadly to all the aspects of the erotic dimension of squares human sexual experience. This also include the beliefs on what is considered sexual and what is not. Sexual meanings are social and cultural constructs, and they are metabolized and subjectivized by the individual only after cultural and social mediation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sexuality in China</span> Cultural attidues toward human sexuality in China

Sexuality in China has undergone dramatic changes throughout time. These changes can be categorized as "sexual revolution". Chinese sexual attitudes, behaviors, ideology, and relations have especially gone through dramatic shifts in the past four decades due to reform and opening up of the country. Many of these changes have found expression in the public forum through a variety of behaviors and ideas. These include, but are not limited to the following cultural shifts: a separation of sex and marriage, such as pre- and extramarital sex; a separation of sex from love and child-bearing such as internet sex and one-night stands; an increase in observable sexual diversity such as homo- and bisexual behavior and fetishism; an increase in socially acceptable displays and behaviors of female sexual desire; a boom in the sex industry; and a more open discussion of sex topics, including sex studies at colleges, media reports, formal publications, online information, extensive public health education, and public displays of affection.

Jack Drescher is an American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst known for his work on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Vernon A. Rosario II is an American psychiatrist and medical historian who studies human sexuality. His recent work has focused on transgender and intersex youth, and he has served as chair of the medical advisory board for Intersex Society of North America.

Christian denominations have a variety of beliefs about sexual orientation, including beliefs about same-sex sexual practices and asexuality. Denominations differ in the way they treat lesbian, bisexual, and gay people; variously, such people may be barred from membership, accepted as laity, or ordained as clergy, depending on the denomination. As asexuality is relatively new to public discourse, few Christian denominations discuss it. Asexuality may be considered the lack of a sexual orientation, or one of the four variations thereof, alongside heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and pansexuality.

The LGBT community in London is one of the largest within Europe. LGBT culture of London, England, is centred on Old Compton Street in Soho. There are also LGBT pubs and restaurants across London in Haggerston, Dalston and Vauxhall.

<i>Sexuality and Its Discontents</i> 1985 book by Jeffrey Weeks

Sexuality and Its Discontents: Meanings, Myths, and Modern Sexualities is a 1985 book about the politics and philosophy of sex by the sociologist Jeffrey Weeks. The book received positive reviews, crediting Weeks with explaining the theories of sexologists and usefully discussing controversial sexual issues. However, Weeks was criticised for his treatment of feminism and sado-masochism.

References

  1. Weeks, Jeffrey (May 2007). "Gay Left: An Overview". GAY LEFT COLLECTIVE. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  2. "Gay Left". glbtq.com. 2005. p. 3. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  3. "Pinc List 2017". Wales Online. 19 August 2017.
  4. "No. 60173". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 June 2012. p. 13.