Introduction: Sexuality and social theory - studying sexuality, love and intimate life

Probably only very few people - if any at all - would dispute the initial proposition that sexuality, love and intimacy occupy an important position in human and social life. The same goes for gender. In fact, to many people, these are perhaps some of the most valued, important and even constitutive features of their desires and dreams, thoughts and feelings, hopes and aspirations, identities and relationships, and life in general. One might even suggest, without any exaggeration or provocation intended, that a life that does not somehow involve or pay attention to these areas can hardly qualify as a life. As once suggested by Jeffrey Weeks about the importance of what transpires within this ‘sphere of the intimate’: it ‘is preoccupied with the things that matter most directly to us as social beings: home, family, friends, sex and love, procreation and child-care, the rhythms of leisure and relaxation, comfort, sadness and happiness’ (Weeks 1991:8). To this listing, one could easily add: identity, desires and emotions.