More about sexualities activisms please, we need it!

Abstract

What if what is missing is not information and understanding of all that is wrong, but rather a sense that it is worth trying to do something about it? (Peters, 2005: 45) The problem I'm going out on a limb, here, but I think there is a void in Sexualities. Sexuality scholarship is largely about the problems that sexual behaviors, attitudes, discourses, politics, and identities cause for individuals and society. The articles and special issues in Sexualities approach this scholarship with passion and innovation. Yet, although sexuality scholars, including many who write in Sexualities, participate in various types of transformational and advocacy activities to remedy society's problems with sexualities, little is written about activism and advocacy how-to, why and what-for in the journal. Scholars have ceded this terrain to editorials, newsletters, blogs, alternative media or social media and may even themselves write such material, but is there still a need for such splitting? Maybe it's time to examine the chasm between activists and the academics who research and write about social issues and movements. In our sexuality research and theory we are interested in revisiting, reframing and disrupting traditions of

How Sex Worker Activism Influenced the Decriminalisation of Sex Work in NSW, Australia.

“…We do this through an analysis of sex worker movement archives, Hansard reports and the Select Committee Final Report. 3 Our analysis of the archives is consistent with arguments by Tiefer (2018Tiefer ( , 1246 that academics have a responsibility to increase scholarship 'about activism and advocacy how-to, why and what-for to remedy society's problems with sexuality'. By drawing attention to a sex worker movement archive that chronicles an almost-unique narrative-the contribution of sex worker activists in developing workable and enduring policy-we aim to show how this collaborative approach between government and sex worker activists helped to achieve social justice and enduring law reform.…”

“…Although the replication of our methodology is limited by the uncertain state and future location of the bulk of the APC archive, there is value in our 'early intervention' into its contents. Prominent researchers have argued for greater engagement between activists and academics for social justice and reform to take place in the area of sexualities (Altman 2018;Tiefer 2018;Weeks 2018). Many documents in the archive remain for further analysis-especially those that extend beyond the timeframe of this study.…”

The methodological integrity of critical qualitative research: Principles to support design and research review.

“…Researchers who conduct research using critical perspectives may engage quantitative and/or qualitative methods as needed to shed light on oppressive dynamics and encourage emancipatory social change (e.g., Fine, 2006). They tend to centralize varied theories of systemic oppression, using perspectives such as critical race theory (e.g., Bowleg et al, 2017), critical queer theory (e.g., Diamond, 2006), disability theory (e.g., Kafer, 2013), postcolonial theory (e.g., Gone, 2019), feminist approaches to sexuality (e.g., Tiefer, 2018), and Marxist theory (e.g., Roberts, 2014) to draw attention to varied and/or intersecting forms of societal power.…”

‘Maybe I’m a quiet activist’: Sex work scholars and negotiations of ‘minor’ academic-activism

“…In sexuality studies and closely related disciplines, attention to activism is growing. In the special issue of Sexualities celebrating its 20 th birthday, both Tiefer (2018) and Altman (2018) call for further engagement with activism within the journal’s pages. While the journal features compelling work on community activism (see, inter alia, Aroney, 2020; Middleweek, 2020; Ross and Sullivan, 2012), there are few articles exploring practices of activism and advocacy by academics in the context of their work and working lives.…”