#LSE Review of Books » Feed LSE Review of Books » Comments Feed LSE Review of Books » Book Review: Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto Comments Feed alternate alternate -- + Development Studies book reviews + Education book reviews + Gender and Sexuality Studies book reviews + History book reviews + International Relations book reviews -- * ____________________  Book Review: Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto Share: -- Author Katherine Johnson argues for a psychosocial approach that rethinks the relationship between psychic and social realms in the field of sexuality, without reducing it to either. Weaving through an expanse of theoretical and empirical examples drawn from sociology, psychology, queer and cultural studies, she produces an innovative, transdisciplinary perspective on sexual identities, subjectivities and politics. Alexander Blanchard argues that any student of sexuality will appreciate the vast wealth of sources which Johnson has compiled in this book. Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto. Katherine Johnson. Polity. November 2014. So far as sexuality plays a significant and intrinsic part in our lives (and the gradual permeation of feminism and queer theory into everyday ‘mainstream’ discourses should testify to this continued significance) then a manifesto which charts the psychological and the social aspects of sexuality is to be recommended reading for anyone who, so to speak, wishes to ‘know thyself’. However, within the academy the study of sexuality has reached something of a ‘conceptual impasse’ and has remained at that impasse for some time now. Briefly, there has been a “polarization between psychological and socio-historical accounts” of sexuality. Sexologists and psychologists tend to locate sexuality in biological origins, such as hormones or genetics, whilst historians and sociologists have taken sexuality as something originating from, and ascribed by, society. As the polarization between these two positions has increased, so the communication between the two has been impeded (there has, in the past, been shared ground). In Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto, Katherine Johnson deftly locates and weaves together the multifarious and complex positions found within both social constructivist and psychological approaches to sexuality. With a masterful grasp of the literature, a lucid, analytical prose, and considered self-awareness, Johnson challenges this conceptual impasse, imploring us to rethink the relationship between the psychic and social study of sexuality – all to excellent effect. Chapter one considers the polarisation of sexuality studies before, in chapter two, outlining the core psychological paradigms that have contributed to the view of sexuality as something inherent to the individual. Chapter three considers the opposing pole of the polarisation, those perspectives which take sexuality as constructed, a product of discourse rather than a natural condition. Through an analysis of queer theory, chapter four begins unravelling the psycho/social impasse by revisiting theorists such as Butler and Kosofsky in order to generate non-normative, non-pathological psychoanalytic accounts of sexuality and subjectivity. Chapter five applies the preceding theoretical insights to popular culture in order to analyse the relevance of shame in the constitution of particular -- one plays the REF game “at the expense of encouraging the theoretical and methodological richness that is necessary to understand complex issues such as sexuality” (p.3). One figure who looms large in this book is the French philosopher -- is, on the whole, appreciative of the way his work “asked new questions that required openness to both method and experience,” and the way in which he showed how sexuality is not just repressed, but produced. Johnson does bring Foucault back down to earth, however. His ideas positively did not emerge in isolation, and we should be attune to the fact that his work “may even have been precipitated by discussions elsewhere.” Johnson repeats the criticism that Foucault’s engagement with gender and sexuality is “insufficient for the political goal of transforming gender oppression,” and that he lacks an intersectional perspective. What Johnson reminds us about Foucault, however – and what -- Johnson’s arguments do take some time to develop, but this slower unravelling is, in the end, a huge asset. I would highly recommend Johnson’s book. Any student of sexuality will appreciate the vast wealth of sources which Johnson has compiled in this book, and her arguments make an excellent contribution to that much-theorised -- * April 6th, 2015|Gender and Sexuality Studies book reviews|1 Comment Previous post Next post One Comment 1. Impact of Social Sciences – Book Review: Sexuality: A Psychosocial Manifesto 04/12/2015 at 4:52 pm - Reply […] This review originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. […]