Seeing Straight

An Introduction to Gender and Sexual Privilege

By (author) Jean Halley, Amy Eshleman

Not available to order

Publication date:

29 November 2016

Length of book:

248 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781442233553

Seeing Straight introduces students to key concepts in gender and sexuality through the lens of privilege and power. After an accessible overview, the book asks students to examine the privilege inherent in approaching heterosexual and cisgender identities as “normal,” as well as the problems of treating queer gender and sexuality as “abnormal.” Compelling real-life examples illustrate theory and empirical research, revealing phenomena that shape not only students’ own lives, but also their communities, their country, and the field of gender studies itself. The book addresses tough topics like hate, violence, and privilege, and it also considers institutionalized heteronormativity through the military, law, religion, and more. The book ends with a chapter called “It’s Getting Better” that presents evidence for queer hope and courage. Filled with compelling true stories, this book is an ideal introduction to gender and sexuality that encourages students to question their own assumptions.

1. Privileged Thinking: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality
2. Privileged Assumptions: Heterosexuality and the Normative Expression of Gender
3. Privileged Power, Hate, and Heteronormativity
4. Fifty Ways to Be Normal and Other Challenges to Privilege
5. Institutionalized Heteronormativity: Military, Law, and Religion
6. Privileged (Popular) Culture and Internalized Expectations
7. Violence, Aggression, and Privilege
8. It’s Getting Better: Queer Hope, Queer Courage

At a moment when sexual politics are playing out in radically new and often contradictory ways, Jean Halley and Amy Eshleman offer us a wonderfully accessible work that centers our attention on the persistent and pervasive entanglements of gender, sexuality, and power. Drawing on real life examples and using an interdisciplinary lens, they have produced a very engaging text that could be used in many undergraduate courses.