This edited work draws together a wide range of papers with the aim of approaching sexuality from a lifecourse perspective. The core themes are: transitions and their timing; cumulative advantage and disadvantage; the effect of life trajectories on sexuality; how people make choices about sexuality in their particular socio-historical contexts; and how gender and sexuality shape sexual pathways. Carpenter and DeLamater also draw upon the concept of sexual scripting – ‘people's sexual lives are governed by socially learned sets of desires and conduct, rather than biological imperatives' (p. 33).
The section on ‘Sexualities in Childhood and Adolescence’ contains three chapters: Jeffrey Thigpen questions the prevailing cultural belief in the United States of America (USA) that children are not sexually aware until adolescence and explores how culture shapes the sexual behaviour of children. Stephen Russell et al. consider sexuality development in adolescence and the importance of empowering young people to think critically about their own sexualities. Kristin Carbine-Lopez approaches the adult consequences of sexual assault in childhood with an emphasis on subsequent dysfunctional relationship scripts, perhaps not sufficiently counter-balanced by narratives of resilience and survival.
In the section ‘Sexualities from Young Adulthood to Midlife’, William Jeynes offers a meta-analysis of literature on the effects of parental divorce, concluding that adolescent children of divorced parents are more likely to engage in pre-marital sex and to become single parents. Lisa Wade and Caroline Heldman explore the ‘hook-up’ scripts of college students, which they suggest involve a narrative of alcohol use and unrewarding casual sex. Adam Green interrogates whether same-sex marriage represent a queering of marital traditions or a normalising of gay intimate relationships.
The section ‘Turning Points Throughout the Life Course’ addresses an eclectic mix. Yen Le Espiritu explores how Filipino sexualities in the USA are co-constituted through gendered, sexualised and racialised discourses, differently negotiated by first- and second-generation immigrants. Bronwen Lichtenstein explores how women in mid-life negotiate dating and sex after a relationship break-up. Alexis Bender describes a study of heterosexual men who had experienced spinal cord injury in adult life whose sexual trajectories were negotiated against a backcloth of normativity in relation to masculine performance, and that sexual satisfaction post-injury was closely correlated with a sense of independence and bodily control.
The section ‘Sexualities from Midlife to Later Life’ contains four papers. Heather Dillaway explores how lesbian, bisexual and heterosexual women at mid-life talk about menopause and sexuality, and how this is nuanced by their reproductive histories. Aniruddha Das et al. describe heterosexual sexual behavioural patterns over the lifecourse, approached through the lens of race and gender. Kathleen Slevin and Christine Mowery explore embodied ageing and ageism among older lesbians and gay men, finding both deploy a range of strategies to appear younger than they are (diet, exercise, cosmetic surgery), shaped by class, and that ‘gender trumps sexual orientation in matters such as body image and body satisfaction’ (p. 246). Meika Loe considers the pleasures of the oldest old, of sexual pleasures beyond heterosexual penetrative sex, and of non-sexual pleasures including friendship, pets, music, puzzles, humour and care-giving.
This book offers great breadth and a far-reaching multi-disciplinary approach to the study of sexuality. There is a very high standard of authorship and the chapters cover the full range of the lifecourse, from childhood to older age, although sexuality in ‘very old’ older age might have been explored further. In particular, there might have been greater interrogation of the sexual landscapes of later life and the regulation of sexuality in such contexts as retirement communities, care homes and nursing homes and in dementia care.
The book's greatest strength comes from its emphasis on the complexities and contingencies of sexuality and sexual expression, and how they are shaped by the intersection of different aspects of identity (gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity and class). This analysis might have been deepened through greater exploration of sexual citizenship discourse and the role of heteronormativity in the production of sexualised identities, both same-sex and heterosexual. While Carpenter and DeLamater's theoretical analysis refers to sexual fluidity, there is very little reference to bisexuality, trans sexualities, and shifting sexualities in the chapters, suggesting the need for further empirical exploration of these areas.
This book is both an excellent starting point for students and researchers, and a useful resource for practitioners. It does not answer all the questions it raises (it does not intend to), but it offers a range of conceptual analyses which future researchers may deploy in order to further tease out the intricacies of sexuality across the lifecourse.
