Gender Issues and Sexuality: Essential Primary Sources provides insight into the personal, social, and political issues of gender and sexuality—issues that range from what many hold as intimate matters of personal belief to matters that stir, shake, and thus profoundly shape modern society.
The women’s rights and gay rights movements in the United States and Britain feature prominently in this volume. From the aftermath of the Senaca Falls Convention to present-day policies against sex discrimination, from the trial of Oscar Wilde to the legal recognition for same-sex marriages, these distinct movements share many of the same goals. Their struggle for social equity is a common movement for human rights: the right to own property, to live free of harassment and discrimination, to work, to enter into marriages, and to found families.
The primary sources contained in Gender Issues and Sexuality: Essential Primary Sources provide a global perspective and were chosen to highlight the complexity of gender and sexuality issues. The accompanying commentary with each primary source is intended as both thoughtful and thought-provoking. As editors, it was our desire and goal that expert commentary exhibit both scholarly directness and sensitivity, always striving to present balanced commentary, while honoring the fundamental principles of the women’s, gay, and human rights movements.
Although we attempted to ensure that content (especially related to obscenity, pornography, and sex crimes) is suitable for a student and general readership, we did not wield a heavy hand with regard to opinion, however, nor did we attempt to parse words or censure opinion for what some would regard as simple political correctness. Accordingly, some of the more narrow and discordant views presented certainly do not reflect the personal opinions of the authors and editors. To ignore such opinions, however, or to pretend that they do not exist, does not serve the struggle for human equality and rights. With regard to knowledge, Einstein said, “As the circle of light increases, so grows the circumference of darkness about it.” Accordingly, while basking in the light of reason and humanity, it is important to remember that the darkness exists at its edges.