Intimate Citizenship: Private Decisions and Public DialoguesSolo parenting, in vitro fertilization, surrogate mothers, gay and lesbian families, cloning and the prospect of designer babies, Viagra and the morning-after pill, HIV/AIDS, the global porn industry, on-line dating services, virtual sex--whether for better of worse, our intimate lives are in the throes of dramatic change. In this thought-provoking study, sociologist Ken Plummer examines the transformations taking place in the realm of intimacy and the conflicts--the intimate troubles --to which these changes constantly give rise. In surveying the intimate possibilities now available to us and the issues swirling around them, Plummer focuses especially on the overlap of public and private. Increasingly, our most private decisions are bound up with public institutions such as legal codes, the medical system, or the media. What impact does the increasingly public character of personal life have on our sense of ourselves and on how we view our own intimate choices? To navigate our way through a world in which people s private lives are so often subject to public scrutiny and debate, and in which the public sphere is increasingly pluralized and contested, we must broaden our understanding of what it means to be a citizen. Through the idea of "intimate citizenship," Plummer sets an important agenda for the years to come. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 5
Although men are sometimes the objects of attack, the most common victims are
women, children, and sexual minorities. Ours is a world of female sexual slavery,
sexual terrorism, woman-hating, homophobia, and hate crimes. And, as has ...
“In the United States, a woman is battered, usually by her sexual partner, every
15 seconds.” (p. 26) . “Across the world, at least one in every three women has
been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused—most often by someone she knows.” (
p.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
You have reached your viewing limit for this book.
What people are saying - Write a review
Contents
3 | |
17 | |
3 Culture Wars and Contested Intimacies | 33 |
4 The New Theories of Citizenship | 49 |
5 Public Intimacies Private Citizens | 67 |
6 Dialogic Citizenship | 84 |
7 Stories and the Grounded Moralities of Everyday Life | 95 |
8 Globalizing Intimate Citizenship | 117 |
9 The Intimate Citizenship Project | 139 |
Notes | 147 |
Bibliography | 163 |
Index of Names | 179 |
Subject Index | 183 |