Gender and sexuality II: Activism

This report considers genders and sexualities within and across spaces of activism. Geographers concerned with social belonging, equity, human rights, civic duties, and gendered and sexed identities often engage in activism through participatory research and/or direct action. This report brings together geographical scholarship on feminist and queer (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer) – LGBTIQ – activism to examine the construction of transformative geographical knowledges. Feminist and queer activist geographers can be powerful forces for positive social change and challenge heteronormativity. They may also, however, reinforce normalizations and hierarchies within and beyond activist spaces. I bring together references that position geographers at the centre of activism, genders, sexualities and place

Sexotic: The interplay between sexualization and exoticization

The introduction reflects on the methodological value and implications of the concept „sexotic“, situates it in the research on processes of sexualization and exoticization and demonstrates how the individual contributions to the special issue relate to three central topics that can be approached via the sexotic: mobilities and migrations, arts and media, science and moralities

Introduction: Foreign travel, transnational sex, and transformations of heterosexualities

Transformation of heterosexuality in the context of transnational mobility has been much neglected in the scholarly literature. In this themed issue we bring together four articles to contribute to the debates about negotiations of heterosexual sexual relations and practices between European and North American women and local men at holiday destinations. The focus is on Euro-North American women's performances of heterosexuality as bound up with gender, race, age, and nationality. Each article uses ethnographic methods to demonstrate how transformation of heterosexuality is spatially and culturally contingent and contested in relation to normative expectations of heterosexual love, sex, and romance regulating women's sexuality both in the women travellers' home countries and in the destination of the encounters. More broadly, articles in this themed issue contribute to the emerging literature aiming to re-think heterosexualities

Pathways forward to a more inclusive future whilst honouring the past

Some cultures teach people to only look at the exceptional, we encourage more looking at the ordinary and the everyday and realizing how exceptional that is. We need everyday stories. Hearing stories from women who have been leaders in OLEs for many years and those who are participants, for example, Christy Smith in Chap. 25 who describes her pathway to be an outdoor woman, demonstrates the importance of maintaining women’s access to OLEs. Looking forward, there ought to be many more stories on Twitter, in the popular press, and academia. There is hope. Arlene, Kathy, Hope, Harriet Tubman, and so many women have embodied much of what we all strive for: enthusiasm, joy, perseverance, competence, integrity, and passion. Women and allies can continue to influence OLEs, and we can continue to learn about our history