Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights

Unwed teen mothers, abortion, masturbation, pornography, gay marriage, sex trafficking, homosexuality, and HIV are just a few in a long line of issues that have erupted into panics. These sexual panics spark moral crusades and campaigns, defining and shaping how we think about sexual and reproductive rights. The essays in "Moral Panics, Sex Panics" focus on case studies ranging from sex education to AIDS to race to illustrate how sexuality is at the heart of many political controversies. The contributors also reveal how moral and sexual panics have become a mainstay of certain kinds of conservative efforts to win elections and gain power in moral, social, and political arenas. "Moral Panics, Sex Panics" provides new and important insights into the role that key moral panics have played in social processes, arguing forcefully against the political abuse of sex panics and for the need to defend full sexual and reproductive rights. The contributors include: Cathy J. Cohen, Diane DiMauro, Gary W. Dowsett, Janice M. Irvine, Carole Joffe, and Saskia Eleonora Wieringa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Moral Panics, Sexual Rights, and Cultural Anger / Gilbert Herdt; 2. The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexuality: Reproductive Rights and Sexuality Education During the Bush Years / Diane DiMauro & Carole Joffe; 3. Black Sexuality, Indigenous Moral Panics, and Respectability: From Bill Cosby to the Down Low / Cathy J. Cohen; 4. The "Gay Plague" Revisited: AIDS and its Enduring Moral Panic / Gary W. Dowsett; 5. Gay Marriage: The Panic and the Right / Gilbert Herdt; 6. Postcolonial Amnesia: Sexual Moral Panics, Memory and Imperial Power / Saskia Eleonora Wieringa; 7. Transient Feelings: Sex Panics and the Politics of Emotions / Janice M. Irvine Contributors; Index