Baring essentials : science as desire

G. Dowsett

Sexual expression is fixed in neither discourse nor time. Exploring that expression requires good theory and inventive research methodologies. Social science has been growing new approaches to investigating sexuality, bolstered by new theory from the humanities, and encouraged by a lack of success in traditional psychosocial and behavioral research in dealing with Western sexual politics since the 1960s and the HIV pandemic since the early 1980s. New theory and innovative methodologies have led to research that confounds the basic science/applied research divide, suggesting that, had this been done earlier, responses to HIV/AIDS might have been less hit-and-miss and grounded in a more sophisticated understanding of sexual life. New technologies are also re-shaping sexuality; their relevance to sex research is also explored in this paper to suggest possibilities for social research in the twenty-first century that offers both the certainty of basic science and enhances the impact of applied research.