Abstract
In much gender studies research, religion and sexuality are positioned as oppositional, yet many individuals negotiate their sexual identities alongside or in the context of religious identities and practices. Religious and Sexual Identities uses a “lived religion” perspective to explore how young people in Great Britain experience and manage the relationship between sexuality and religious commitment in their daily lives. Defining religion in terms of lived religion turns our focus from official dogmas, rules, and institutions toward how people interpret and practice religion, often in fluid and messy ways at odds with official religion. This study gives us insight into the body as a site where faith and sexuality intersect for young adults in a variety of religious traditions and differing sexual identities (including the felicitously named “bi-curious”).
The bulk of the data comes from an online survey with mostly quantitative questions consisting of 693 participants aged 18-25 living in the United Kingdom (83.8 percent from England). Nearly three-quarters were students. Those who filled out the questionnaire were invited to give contact information for an in-depth interview. Sampling for diversity among those who responded, the researchers conducted two-hour interviews with 61 individuals. Of these respondents, 24 also participated in a seven-day video diary project. Individuals were solicited through contacts with youth groups, both religious and secular, support groups for sexual minorities, and through social media, including a Facebook page. One of the goals was to maximize variation of both sexual and religious identities. A majority of respondents identified as white (64.9 percent), heterosexual (74.3 percent), and Christian (57.1 percent), with Muslims (16.6 percent), Jews (7.5 percent), Hindus (6.8 percent), Buddhists (4.5 percent), Sikhs (3.8 percent), and persons of mixed faith (3.7 percent) also represented.
More than half of study participants attended a public religious gathering at least once a week. Many also engaged in private spiritual practices. Many respondents said public and private practices supported each other. For those who disassociated from their religion—often over restrictions regarding gender and sexual expression—private practices remained important. While there is variation across respondents, the authors argue that, overall, the relationship between religion and sexuality is ambivalent and contentious, but the outcome is neither wholesale abandonment of religion nor capitulation to its requirements. The data show that many young people, both those who identify as heterosexuals and those who do not, struggle with the valorization of heterosexuality in most religious traditions. Buddhist respondents were an exception, reporting that their religion teaches responsibility in sexual activity, without privileging heterosexuality. Many also report that traditional interpretations are reinforced in families of origin, with university providing a space to try out new identities, sometimes in the context of more liberal religious communities in that setting (pp. 134-35).
The body of the book presents descriptive statistics showing percentages for how different parts of the sample responded to questions on the questionnaire. Some tables sort responses by religious identification and others by sexual identification. The materials from the interviews are used to give additional depth to some of the responses. Chapter two focuses on respondents’ answers to questions about their religiosity. Chapter three shows responses to questions about the value placed on monogamy and virginity, as well as whether heterosexuality is the ideal and whether homosexuals and heterosexuals should be treated equally. Chapter four asks about how participants manage bodily practices by looking at questions concerning whether participants expect themselves and their partners to be virgins when they marry, whether “masturbation is positive to one’s sexual health,” and about attitudes toward and use of pornography. Chapter five looks at participants’ responses to questions about sex outside of marriage. Chapter six takes up questions about participants’ relations to others: whether they believe the mainstream culture is too permissive and focuses too much on sex, and whether their friends are religious. While the book stays close to the data, the authors engage with relevant literature throughout the chapters.
I have difficulty knowing what to make of quantitative data from this kind of sample, and the authors do acknowledge that it is not representative and exhibit appropriate caution regarding their findings. Nevertheless, it is intriguing to hear so many voices: Sikhs and Buddhists as a well as Christians and Muslims across a range of sexual identities. At the same time, the authors challenge the narrative that portrays young people as abandoning religion in the face of a secular society saturated by mass media depictions of sexuality. They show these young adults using religion as a resource in constructing an ethic for life. The book could be used in undergraduate classes to open up discussions about the intersection of religion and sexuality. Graduate students and researchers will find many topics for further investigation, and it would be a good library addition.