Podcast
From the Square: An NYU Press Podcast
Hosted by New Books Network · EN
Interview with authors of NYU press books.
2episodes
Episodes
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Jane Ward, "The Tragedy of Heterosexuality" (NYU Press, 2020)
Jun 22, 2021Tap to summarizeHeterosexuality is in crisis. Reports of sexual harassment, misconduct, and rape saturate the news in the era of #MeToo. Straight men and women spend thousands of dollars every day on relationship coaches, seduction boot camps, and couple’s therapy in a search for happiness.In The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (NYU Press, 2020), Jane Ward smartly explores what, exactly, is wrong with heterosexuality in the twenty-first century, and what straight people can do to fix it for good. She shows how straight women, and to a lesser extent straight men, have tried to mend a fraught patriarchal system in which intimacy, sexual fulfillment, and mutual respect are expected to coexist alongside enduring forms of inequality, alienation, and violence in straight relationships.Ward also takes an intriguing look at the multi-billion-dollar self-help industry, which markets goods and services to help heterosexual couples without addressing the root of their problems. Ultimately, she encourages straight men and women to take a page out of queer culture, reminding them “about the human capacity to desire, fuck, and show respect at the same time.”Jana Byars is the Academic Director of Netherlands: International Perspectives on Sexuality and Gender.
Transcribe →Jane Ward, "The Tragedy of Heterosexuality" (NYU Press, 2020)
Jun 22, 2021Tap to summarizeIf opposite-gender partnerships remain the societal ideal, then why are so many straight couples miserable? Author Jane Ward has been studying this question for some time and outlines her ideas about the tragic effects of heteronormativity in her new book, The Tragedy of Heterosexuality (New York University Press, 2020). In our interview, we discuss her compelling case for why queer people, and lesbian feminism in particular, have much relational wisdom to offer their heterosexual counterparts, and why only a deepening—rather than queering—of their sexuality can save them.Jane Ward is Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at University of California, Riverside. Her prior books include Not Gay: Sex between Straight White Men and Respectably Queer: Diversity Culture in LGBT Activist Organizations.Eugenio Duarte, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst practicing in Miami. He treats individuals and couples, with specialties in gender and sexuality, eating and body image problems, and relationship issues. He is a graduate and faculty of William Alanson White Institute in Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology in New York City and former chair of their LGBTQ Study Group; and faculty at Florida Psychoanalytic Institute in Miami. He is also a contributing author to the book Introduction to Contemporary Psychoanalysis: Defining Terms and Building Bridges (2018, Routledge).
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