Sexualities and Social Movements: Three Decades of Sex and Social Change

Abstract

Social movements have been at the center of dramatic legal, political, and social change for marginalized sexualities for the last 30 years. These social changes include increase of supportive laws, policies, public opinion, cultural visibility, and affirming identities for alternative sexual practices, identities, and communities. This includes more positive visibility for sexual practices, identities, and communities around sexualities such as homosexuality, bisexuality, polyamory, sex work, and BDSM. There have been, of course, limitations to these social changes, as many sexualities are still stigmatized or legally marginalized. This chapter considers the role that social movements play in the social transformation of gender and sexuality with attention to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) movement.