All about...

Critical & Experiential:
Dimensions in Gender and Sexual Diversity 

Edited by Previn Karian

An introduction...

Critical & Experiential is a multidisciplinary collection of chapters written from within the newly emerging field in gender and sexual diversity (GSD) that moves beyond the LGBTQ(IA) acronym to include non-binary and heterosexual variation. It brings together academics, practitioners and activists from the UK, US, Canada, Russia and India working in the fields of psychology, clinical psychology, psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling, sociology, cultural studies, political activism, legal consultancy and legal expert witnessing.

The contributions are primarily aimed at mental health, psychology and psychotherapy practitioners and teachers, as well as those working with psychological aspects of social sciences and legal theory. The concepts of ‘critical’ and ‘critique’ are reframed throughout as experientially provoked thinking and thought. This collection provides a practical reference handbook to critique our range and styles of learning, teaching and interventions in the GSD field. However, it is also a stimulus to broader questions about mental health in the psychological organization of social and professional values that, painfully, still demand to be voiced, if not critiqued.


Pricing

Critical & Experiential:
Dimensions in Gender and Sexual Diversity
ISBN (Pbk): 978-0-9957625-0-3 21st Nov 2016
ISBN (Hbk): 978-0-9957625-1-0 16th Jan 2017

Buy now: £38.50 + p&p
RRP (Pbk): £42.50

Buy now: £95.50 + p&p
RRP (Hbk): £110.00

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Chapter headings

Chapter 1

Uncoming Out

Ian Lucas

Chapter 2

The Problem with ‘Normal’: teaching and learning about gender and trans psychology

Jemma Tosh

Chapter 3

Images of Non-Binary People: how poor or absent representations of non-binary people diminishes understanding of lived experience

Jennie Kermode

Chapter 4

Beyond Genital: Restor(y)ing lesbian desire

Emily Skye

Chapter 5

Actualizing Gay Leathersex: a personal vignette

Nick Field

Chapter 6

An Analytic of Belonging: ‘Q’ people and the therapeutic potentials of transformation

Chris Shelley

Chapter 7

Alternative Sexuality: the Indian variation

Sudhir Kakar

Chapter 8

Transpersonal Approaches to LGBTQ Therapy

Keith Silvester

Chapter 9

How Did It Hurt: distinguishing between Intimate Partner Violence and BDSM in relationships

Rachel Anne Kieran & Elisabeth Sheff

Chapter 10

The Straight Spouse Network: meeting the needs of an invisible group

Amity P. Buxton

Chapter 11

Women Desiring Women: Reflections on the field

Di Hodgson & Emily Skye

Chapter 12

The Swinging Lifestyle: research and community findings for future psychological theory and practice

Ed Fernandes

Chapter 13

The Law vs LGBT Russia

Yael Demedetskaya

Chapter 14

Resilience in Polyamourous Families

Elisabeth Sheff

Chapter 15

Living Gay Leathersex: a relational source for therapeutic training and practice

Nick Field

Chapter 16

Gender and Imagining Sexual Diversity

Morgan Stebbins

What the critics say


‘I like the idea of critical thinking being applied to the lived experience, taking it out of the realms of academia and pedagogy. Through this, the chapters tell new stories of identity and desire through privileging lived experiences of knowledge and exposing how stories of identity and desire are embedded in cultural discourses.’
Dr. Angie Fee
Psychosynthesis Trust
FULL REVIEW

'While Karian says he would have “preferred outrage and polemic”, the chapters come in a calmer register. As the editor he aims to preserve diverse writing styles in chapter revisions and to bridge community voices and uninformed professionals…this book admirably achieves what Karian sets out to do: looking at a range of ways gender and sexual diversity is experienced and lived.’
Grant Denkinson
Transformations: Journal for Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility (PCSR)
FULL REVIEW

'This book is a hefty, extremely well researched and argued tome...profoundly interesting chapters in this book that challenge as much as inform…. Complex, insightful and filled with personal experiences, this is certainly food for thought.’
Eric Page
GScene
FULL REVIEW

‘Any book about diversity needs to represent a mix of styles, authors and material. Karian and the contributors have created a successful book in its range of topics and depth with which they are covered. It is well edited to draw parallels and connections across the chapters…’
Alex Sanderson-Shortt
BACP Private Practice Journal
FULL REVIEW

‘The multiplicity of authorial voices, representation of the range and spectrum of cultural, sexual, inter-relational experiences, theoretical perspectives, scholarship and passionate on the ground activism, makes for a very rich and highly informative collection that many working in different disciplines and modalities will benefit from.’
Barry Watt
The Site for Contemporary Psychoanalysis
FULL REVIEW
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