Call for papers on: Sex and the sexual in leisure

 

Convenor: Associate Professor Neil Carr (University of Otago)

 

Leisure is an emerging academic discipline whose position in universities has been queried. It may be argued that at least partially as a result of this there has been a tendency amongst researchers in this discipline to align their work with the conventional moral high ground in order to legitimatise and increase the credibility of their work. In contrast, in more established disciplines, where there is potentially greater freedom to research beyond the borders of conventional morality, leisure experiences have often been shunned as areas of study. The result is that many morally ‘questionable’ leisure experiences and desires have been left in the dark, in both a social and research sense; unexplored by researchers.

 

‘Sex’, broadly defined as an act that leads to physical sexual stimulation and includes a variety of penetrative and non-penetrative acts and ‘sexual’ which although obviously related to sex, is not directly a physical act but refers to everything that, suggests, promises, and/or stimulates sex are two ‘dark’ issues that have generated very little research in leisure studies; especially relative to their arguably prominent position in the leisure experience. Where research has been conducted it has largely been situated within a framework of conventional morality. Yet there is evidence of a shift away from this position and to a recognition of the importance and value of conducting research on all aspects of sex and the sexual in the leisure environment. This is exemplified by the publication in 2010 of a book edited by Neil Carr and Yaniv Poria entitled Sex and the sexual during people’s leisure and tourism experiences.

 

Consequently, this session aims to build on the works in Carr and Poria’s book and the limited amount of research into sex in leisure and tourism experiences that has been published elsewhere to help bring issues of sex and the sexual in the leisure experience into the light of contemporary social and academic debate. As a result, abstracts for presentations are sought from researchers examining all aspects of sex, penetrative and non-penetrative, and the sexual in the leisure experience.

 

Potential themes for presentations include, but are not limited to:

 

• The acceptance of public displays of sex and the sexual in the leisure environment
• The lives of sex workers in the leisure experience
• The role and experiences of the sexual in the experiences of leisure services employees
• Cross-cultural concepts of sex and the sexual in the cultural melting pot of the leisure environment
• The construction of places within the leisure environment through sex and the sexual
• The construction of social identities and personal ‘selves’ within the leisure environment through sex and the sexual
• The balance between freedom, morality, and safety of the self and the other within the context of sex in the leisure environment
• The role of the Internet as a virtual space in the sexual experiences of people during their leisure

 

Abstracts (limited to 250 words) should be sent to Neil Carr ([log in to unmask]), by 16^th of May, 2011. Authors will be notified of acceptance of their abstract for presentation at the conference by 10^th of June.

 

Please ensure that abstracts include all author names, institutions and an email contact for the lead author. Any special presentation equipment (e.g. slide projector) required should be noted in the email in which the abstract is submitted.