An overview of recent feminist and sociological debates on heterosexuality and the construction of desire - without recourse to psychoanalysis. The author draws on feminism, along with phenomenological and interactionist sociology, to critique the concept of repression and the place of sexuality.

PART ONE: THE CONTEXT Querying Heterosexuality A Personal History of Feminist and Sociological Theorizing PART TWO: EARLY FOUNDATIONS On the Social Construction of Female Sexuality The Social Context of Rape Sexual Scripts and Motivation How to Make Babies Sexism in Sex Education Femininity, Masculinity and Sexuality The Desire for Freud Psychoanalysis and Feminism PART THREE: RECENT INTERVENTIONS Even Sociologists Fall in Love An Exploration in the Sociology of Emotions Women and Heterosexual Love Complicity, Resistance and Change Gender and Heterosexuality A Materialist Feminist Analysis Lost Childhood or Sexualized Girlhood? Taking Liberties Feminism, Gay Rights and the Problem of Heterosexuality Heterosexuality, Heteronormativity and Gender Hierarchy Some Reflections on Recent Debates