Vijeyarasa, Ramona --- "Review of Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights" [2010] UTSLRS 2; (2010) 2(4) World Medical and Health Policy

Last Updated: 17 May 2017

Peter Aggleton and Richard Parker. Review of Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights. New York, NY: Routledge Taylor and Francis Group, 2010. $199.00, 490 pages,

978-0-415-46864-0 (hardback) 978-0-203-86022-9 (electronic)

Review by Ramona Vijeyarasa, University of New South Wales

In many respects, academic discourse on the relationship between sex, sexuality and health has largely focused on the negative, driven in part by responses to the HIV epidemic and unplanned pregnancies, as well as population control debates. Increasing emphasis, however, is placed on a positive approach to sexuality, sexual expression and related gender identities. The Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Health and Rights documents the history of this evolving relationship between health, sexuality and sexual rights.

The Handbook is a compilation of articles by leading sexuality and sexual health critical thinkers and activists, with the main themes of the handbook spanning the origins of sexuality debates, reproductive and sexual health, the HIV epidemic, positive and negative expressions of sexuality and finally the struggles of sexual rights movements.

The book’s stated goal is “to provide an authoritative overview of current understanding within the interrelated fields of sexuality, sexual health and sexual rights” (p. 2). It in fact does much more than this. It is a historical work, tracing the history of sexuality; and a theoretical piece, analysing the works of leading theorists on sexuality such as Michel Foucault, John Gagnon and Judith Butler. The book also tries to provide a global outlook through case studies of sexual communities in an extensive range of countries including India, Indonesia, Thailand and Senegal, as well as sexual identities and practices in Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Iran, South Africa and Uganda.

The book falls short in a number of respects. There is an absence of a single overarching thread, unsurprising given that it is a compilation from 66 contributors. Its historical analysis may be of less interest to the audience of the WMHPJ. Negative expressions of sexuality are only addressed in detail in one section, despite the centrality of these experiences to health and policy interventions. This may be, however, an intentional reaction “to decades of single-minded attention to abuse, victimisation and torture by feminist and human rights activists” (p. 401).

While the quality varies throughout, there are several highlights. Jeffrey Weeks provides an excellent overview of the history of sexualities set against the evolution of human rights in relation to broader issues of sexual rights, reproductive rights and equality. Evelyn Blackwood’s chapter calls for greater acceptance of identities that do not fit the categories of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, illustrated by the gender identities of lesbis and tombois in West Sumatra. Dennis Altman assesses the export of sexual moralities from the US through funding priorities and policies in response to the HIV epidemic. The final section, “Struggles for erotic justice” provides a regionally – and topically – diverse insight into various struggles of sexual rights movements and activism around the globe. This includes the economics of sex work in Uganda; the positive sexual rights of young people living with HIV in Brazil and their sexual desires, hopes and life aspirations; and the limitations of asylum as a strategy to protect LGBT people living in the US from persecution in their home countries.

Of particular interest to the readers of WMHPJ, the handbook successfully draws out current debates concerning reproductive rights. The resource guide also provides critical assessments of the past and current responses to the HIV epidemic, including a lack of cross-disciplinary collaboration and disagreements within and beyond epistemological perspectives. The book is recommended for those who wish to gain a better understanding of how we have arrived at current approaches to sexuality, present-day debates and thinking regarding sexual rights and gender identities as well as specific illustrations of the global intersection of health, sexuality and rights.