Sexuality, Rurality, and Geography - Paperback

by Alexis Annes (Contribution by), Jenny Björklund (Contribution by), Kath Browne (Contribution by)

This international edited collection contributes to knowledge about the geographies of sexualities experienced and imagined in rural spaces. The book draws attention to the heterogeneity of rural contexts and the diversity of meanings about sexualities within and across these spaces. The collection examines four key themes.

First, 'Intimacies and Institutions' focuses on how intimate relationships are governed by societal, discursive and institutional structures, and regulated by social, political and legal frames of citizenship and belonging. The chapters present historical and contemporary case studies of the constitution and management of intimate sexual lives and relationships in rural and non-metropolitan spaces.

Second, 'Communities' explores how sexual identities are socially-constructed and relationally-performed in rural communities, scrutinizing the complex interplay of belonging and alienation, inclusion and exclusion, for sexual subjects and communities within rural spaces. Analyzing films, literature and interviews, the chapters examine sexuality and community, and "queer" notions of rural family and community.

Third, 'Mobilities' examines movement/migration at different scales. Cross-national data provides insights into similarities and differences in rural migration and homemaking for lesbians, gay men and same-sex families. The chapters consider how movement, coming out and memories of time and place inflect home, identity and belonging for rural lesbians and gay men.

Fourth, 'Production and Consumption' investigates the commodification of rural sexualities. The chapters interrogate the management of animal bodies and sexualities in industrial agriculture for consumer pleasure and commercial ends; how heterosexuality and sexual relations are transacted in mining communities; and the global commodification of rural masculine sexualities.

This book is timely. It provides important new insights about ruralities and sexualities, filling a gap in theoretical and empirical understandings about how sexualities in diverse rural spaces are given meaning. This collection begins the processes of furthering discussion and knowledge about the inherently dynamic and constantly changing nature of the rural and the multiple, varied and complex sexual subjectivities lived through corporeal experiences and virtual and imagined lives.

Author Biography

Andrew Gorman-Murray is a Lecturer in Social Sciences at the University of Western Sydney. He is a social and cultural geographer. His primary research interests include geographies of gender and sexuality, and rural social and cultural change. He has conducted several projects on sexual minorities and communities in rural and regional Australia. This work is published in a number of outlets, including Journal of Rural Studies, Environment and Planning A, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Australian Geographer, Australian Humanities Review and Rural Society.

Barbara Pini is a Professor in the School of Humanities at Griffith University. She has an extensive publication record in the field of rural social science, with expertise in gender and class dynamics in rural spaces and industries. She has authored Masculinities and Management in Agricultural Organizations Worldwide (Ashgate 2008) as well as Gender and Rurality (Routledge 2011) with Lia Bryant. She has edited Labouring in New Times: Young People and Work (2011, with R. Price, P. McDonald and J. Bailey), Transforming Gender and Class in Rural Spaces (2011, with R. Leach), Representing Women in Local Government: An International Comparative Study (2011, with P. McDonald), Men, Masculinities and Methodologies (2012, with B. Pease) and Gender, Work and Ageing (2012, with P. McDonald). Professor Pini's writing has appeared in numerous journals including Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, Gender, Work and Organization, Work, Employment and Society, Information, Communication and Society, New Technologies, Work and Employment and Social and Cultural Geography.

Lia Bryant is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, Social Work and Social Policy at the University of South Australia. She is a sociologist who has published widely on gender, sexuality and embodiment in the rural, with an ongoing interest in class and its intersections with gender in shaping relations in rural communities. She has authored Gender and Rurality (Routledge 2011) with Barbara Pini and has published in numerous journals including Journal of Rural Studies, Sociologia Ruralis, International Journal of Qualitative Research, Kunapipi, Social Science Computer Review and Rural Society.