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Bad Sex
Sexuality, Gender and Affect in Contemporary TV
by Billy Holzberg, Jacqueline Gibbs and Aura Lehtonen
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Book Presentation:
Bad Sex traces the evolution of representations of sex on screen, from earlier portrayals of sex as glamorous or taboo, to more complex depictions of often awkward or painful experiences and feelings.
Jacqueline Gibbs, Billy Holzberg, and Aura Lehtonen examine the representation of sex and sexuality in contemporary English language drama and 'dramedy' shows like Fleabag (2016, 2019), Sex Education (2019-23), I May Destroy You (2020) and Euphoria (2019-), arguing that TV is where the politics of sexuality and gender is negotiated under the contemporary conditions of neoliberalism.
Through a cultural analysis of key television shows, they identify this shift as driven by the diversification of representations of sex and sexuality, as women, trans and non-binary, Black and minority ethnic, working-class and disabled TV professionals carve some space in a traditionally white, middle-class, cis male dominated industry. In doing so, they explore the affective potential and limits of 'bad' sex on our screens and what these representations can tell us about sexual politics and gender cultures today.
About the authors:
Claire Nally is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature in the Department of English Literature, Linguistics and Creative Writing at Northumbria University, UK. She is the author of Steampunk: Gender, Subculture and the Neo-Victorian (Bloomsbury, 2019), co-editor or Bloomsbury Library of Gender and Popular Culture and Deputy Editor (including reviews) of the open access journal C21 Literature.Angela Smith is Professor of Language and Culture at the University of Sunderland, UK. She has written numerous articles and book chapters on media discourses, gender, the portrayal of immigrants and the representation of politicians.
Press Reviews:
"Contemporary, affective, and beautifully written. Bad Sex recenters the political, personal, and wider significance of queer theory in popular culture during uncertain times. The intersectional and queer approach sets Bad Sex as a pivotal frame to examine popular culture, nostalgia, intimacy, representations on television, and what future possibilities could look like." ―Gemma Commane, Birmingham City University, UK
"Bad Sex explores how sex and sexuality are depicted on screen in shows from Fleabag to Euphoria. It charts the movement away from previous depictions of sex as either liberating or traumatizing, attending to the complex territory in between. The book makes a vital contribution to media and cultural studies." ―Suzanne Ferriss, Nova Southeastern University, USA
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
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