Sexual citizenship and social change: a dialectical approach to narratives of tradition and critique

"There has been enormous change in social and state acceptance regarding sex and sexualities over the last thirty years or so in the West, with an apparent new acceptance and openness towards diverse sexual practices and sexualities. Much of this change has come about through community claims for rights grounded in critical social theory and the language of citizenship. While accepting that much of this critique has been valuable in advancing rights for sexual minorities, Sexual Citizenship and Social Change raises the spectre that the mode of critique itself may now have become problematic. To this end, this book examines the use and abuse of critique in contemporary sexuality scholarship and associated activism and presents an argument that a new danger for contemporary sexual life emerges from an excess of critique. This implicates a particular form of critique that is detached, and unfettered, set loose from the usual anchor of tradition. What is most dangerous of all with this excess of unfettered critique is that it emerges from within minority sexual communities (and their allies), not from the usual conservative opposition to progressive change. Even the most ostensibly well-meaning critic - and associated critique - can become problematic when their arguments are detached from tradition. So, while recognising there is proven value in critique, it has limits, and we are arguably witness to some sensible limits being breached. While other authors focus their critical efforts on resistance to change and the limitations of tradition, Sexual Citizenship and Social Change takes on critique itself"--