Overview

This book responds to the need to investigate the complex links between sex and leisure and their implications for research and practice. Understanding sex as leisure aligns with sex-positive culture that focuses on affirming pleasure in the contemporary sexual discourse and advocating for sexual diversity, freedom, empowerment, and fulfilling sex lives. The focus of this book is on analyzing the complexity of sex as leisure in various socio-cultural and geographical contexts, with particular reference to vulnerable populations and pressing sexual issues, including sexual pleasure and expression, biomedicalization of sexuality, and social justice and sexuality. Specific chapters offer diverse international coverage and address the links between a positive sexuality framework and leisure research. The chapters cover sexual play and sex toys based on consumer experience perspectives; using the leisure lens to analyze sex and pornography addiction; quadriplegic sexuality and leisure; rejection and resilience on a gay cruise; relational dynamics of aging, exploitation, and deceit in sex tourism; sexual harassment of solo female travelers; and the complexity of consent in the sexualized leisure space of a pornography expo. This book will be of great value to those interested in transdisciplinary scholarship as it critically broadens the bio-psycho-socio-cultural perspective of sex as leisure. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Leisure Sciences.

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9781032264189

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Reviews

"""Covering rich theoretical and methodological terrain, interwoven with a plethora of examples, Berdychevsky and Carr have put together an exemplary collection of essays for advancing our understandings of sex, sexuality, sexual identity (and so much more) as they relate to leisure and her subfields. Spending little time on the trappings of sex as ""off limits"" or taboo, the authors tackle both the mundane and eccentric in this inspiring collection of papers. I know I am sure to draw on the work in my graduate classes, my scholarship and my bedroom (or wherever else I choose to have sex). A collection such as this one is at least 40 years overdue."" - Corey W. Johnson, Professor, Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo ""Berdychevsky and Carr marshal impressive evidence for the sheer extent of popular associations between sex and leisure and their implications for individual liberty and social inclusion and turn it into a comprehensive, friendly investigation of one of leisure studies taboo subjects. High on analysis and clearly and simply told, with no obscurities of vocabulary or allusion, this edited collection is an essential piece of armoury in the war against the demonization of difference."" - Tony Blackshaw, Professor, Leisure Studies and Sociology, Sheffield Hallam University ""What scholars Berdychevsky and Carr have accomplished has been the removal of the stigmatization of sex as an act of leisure and sex as an area of leisure research in one swoop of a collected edited volume. For far too long sex has been the stuff of Curtis’ purple recreation, Nash’s taboo recreation, and Elkington and Stebbins’ deviant leisure with an occasional ""hush hush"" mention embedded in discussions of Csikszentmihalyi’s happiness and Symanski or Graburn’s initializing discussions on sex tourism. And for far too long because of this stigma, sex has taken off in areas of research within gender studies and public health on pleasure seeking, event management of award shows and entertainment-based performances, and scores of destinations and retreats established for consensual sex. No longer are scholars such as DJ Williams alone in the study of this human behavior and phenomenon. This is a much needed reclamation and we have these editors and authors to thank."" - Rasul Mowatt, Professor and Department Head, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, North Carolina State University ""Liza Berdychevsky and Neil Carr’s latest book advances a research agenda on sex as leisure. Contributions draw on an impressively diverse range of case studies to illustrate the value of a leisure lens to exploring many of the complexities of sex, whether in relation to pleasure and play, self-expression and social justice, or sexual harassment and consent. The result is a rich and exciting collection that sets aside any social taboos or inhibitions when it comes to examining the importance of sex to leisure lives and practices."" - Kate Dashper, Reader and Director of Research Degrees, School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management, Leeds Beckett University ""Berdychevsky and Carr’s (2022) edited collection, Innovation and Impact of Sex As Leisure in Research and Practice is an important contribution to the canon on sexuality studies and a bridge to the diverse intersections of sex as leisure. The editors note the link between sex and leisure through the shared qualities of ""freedom, choice, and self-determination,"" thus paving the way for a new approach to inquiry and understanding that seeks to emphasize sex as an important component of a healthy life. In doing so, the chapters of Berdychevsky and Carr’s collection help to reexamine the sexual boundaries imposed by society."" - Justin T. Harmon, Assistant Professor, Department Community and Therapeutic Recreation, University of North Carolina Greensboro"

Author Information

Liza Berdychevsky is an Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Her research revolves at the nexus of heath, wellbeing, and sexuality in various leisure and tourism contexts, with a particular focus on vulnerable populations, aging, gender, and tailored sexual health education. Her research contributes to a deeper understanding of sexual health and offers directions for health education and prevention and intervention methods. Neil Carr is a Professor in the Department of Tourism, University of Otago. His research focuses on understanding behavior within tourism and leisure experiences; with a particular emphasis on children and families, sex and animals (especially dogs). The brains behind the wonky façade of Neil belong to his wife, Sarah, and dog, Ebony (and before her Gypsy and Snuffie).

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