Parts of this book were first developed in conjunction with my lecture series on ‘Sexuality and Social Exclusion’, ‘Sexuality and the Dynamics of Intimacy’, and ‘Gender, Sexualities and the State’ at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and the Centre for Gender Studies of the University of Cambridge between 1999 and 2008. Many thanks to students and other audiences for their probing questions and feedback. The book also draws upon some of my previous research, which was financially supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 61-66003.01 and 3346-61710.00). I thank Jesus College, Cambridge, and the Institute of Anthropology and Sociology, University of Lausanne, for institutional support.
I am deeply grateful for helpful comments and suggestions from Max Bergman, Lucy Bland, Terrell Carver, Clare Chambers, Jackie Clackson, John Cornwell, Christine Delphy, Rebecca Flemming, Peter Garnsey, Natalia Gerodetti, Anthony Giddens, Simon Goldhill, Geoff Harcourt, Wendy Harcourt, Tim Jenkins, Gerry Kearns, Duncan Kelly, Philippa Levine, Juliet Mitchell, Helen Morales, Martine Moret, Ilja Mottier, Yannis Papadaniel, Patricia Roux, Rupert Russell, Janet Soskice, Bernard Voutat, and Hans Wijngaards. I am also grateful to James Thompson, Andrea Keegan, and Marsha Filion from Oxford University
Press for suggesting and supporting this project; and to Olaf Henricson-Bell and Alyson Silverwood for copy-editing the text.
It goes without saying that on such contested terrain, the views of the above are not necessarily reflected in this volume. Last but not least, many thanks to my husband James Clackson for numerous scholarly as well as other contributions.