Exploring sex—bodily capacities, appetites, orientations, and connections—in terms of play and playfulness. We all know that sex involves a quest for pleasure, that sexual palates vary across people's lifespans, and that playful experimentations play a key role in how people discover their diverse sexual turn-ons and turn-offs. Yet little attention has been paid to thinking through the interconnections of sex and play, sexuality and playfulness. In Many Splendored Things from Goldsmiths Press, Susanna Paasonen considers these interconnections. Paasonen examines the notions of playfulness and play as they shed light on the urgency of sexual pleasures, the engrossing appeal of sex, and the elasticity of sexual desires, and considers their connection to categories of identity. Drawing on a broad range of scholarship on sexuality, play, and the media, Paasonen moves from the conceptual to the concrete, examining advice literature on sexual play, the vernacular aesthetics of the Fifty Shades series, girls' experiences of online sexual role-playing, popular media coverage of age-play, and Jan Soldat's documentary films on BDSM culture. Paasonen argues that play in the realm of sexuality involves experimentation with what bodies can feel and do and what people may imagine themselves as doing, liking, and preferring. Play involves the exploration of different bodily capacities, appetites, orientations, and connections. Occasionally strained, dark, and even hurtful in the forms that it takes and the sensory intensities that it engenders, sex presses against previously perceived and imagined horizons of embodied potentiality. Play pushes sexual identifications into motion.

This fresh approach to theological anthropology applies patristic wisdom to contemporary discussions of what it means to be human.

Exploring sex—bodily capacities, appetites, orientations, and connections—in terms of play and playfulness. We all know that sex involves a quest for pleasure, that sexual palates vary across people's lifespans, and that playful experimentations play a key role in how people discover their diverse sexual turn-ons and turn-offs. Yet little attention has been paid to thinking through the interconnections of sex and play, sexuality and playfulness. In Many Splendored Things from Goldsmiths Press, Susanna Paasonen considers these interconnections. Paasonen examines the notions of playfulness and play as they shed light on the urgency of sexual pleasures, the engrossing appeal of sex, and the elasticity of sexual desires, and considers their connection to categories of identity. Drawing on a broad range of scholarship on sexuality, play, and the media, Paasonen moves from the conceptual to the concrete, examining advice literature on sexual play, the vernacular aesthetics of the Fifty Shades series, girls' experiences of online sexual role-playing, popular media coverage of age-play, and Jan Soldat's documentary films on BDSM culture. Paasonen argues that play in the realm of sexuality involves experimentation with what bodies can feel and do and what people may imagine themselves as doing, liking, and preferring. Play involves the exploration of different bodily capacities, appetites, orientations, and connections. Occasionally strained, dark, and even hurtful in the forms that it takes and the sensory intensities that it engenders, sex presses against previously perceived and imagined horizons of embodied potentiality. Play pushes sexual identifications into motion.

A riveting and powerful story of an unforgiving time, an unlikely friendship and an indestructible love

Awareness of the importance of exercise and physical activity to optimal physical and mental health has never been greater. It is widely acknowledged that physical inactivity is a leading cause of death, yet statistics show less than 50% of Americans participate in regular physical activity. This information highlights the public health challenge of increasing participation in physical activity to enhance physical health and to buoy the psychological benefits associated with physical activity. The Oxford Handbook of Exercise and Psychology is an authoritative and comprehensive presentation of the breadth and depth of empirical contributions utilizing state-of-the-science theories and approaches in exercise psychology. Chapters are authored by leading investigators across the globe who have made significant scientific contributions addressing the behavioral aspects of physical activity. Sections of the book address the effects of physical activity on mental health; knowledge gathered utilizing psychobiological perspectives; behavioral factors that impact exercise motivation; scientific contributions addressing the physical activity benefits with special populations, including individuals with physical disabilities, older adults and cancer patients; and promising areas for additional investigation. Each chapter presents a summary of scientific advancements in the topic area as a foundation for future investigation. Fueled by a broad range of disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches, the field of exercise psychology is growing, and this comprehensive handbook will be the perfect resource for students, researchers, and physicians interested in exercise motivation and the mental health benefits of physical activity.

This book examines the Red Love vogue that swept across the Asia-Pacific in the 1920s and 1930s as part of a worldwide interest in socialism and follows its trails throughout the twentieth century. Encouraging both political and sexual liberation, Red Love was a transnational movement demonstrating the revolutionary potential of love and desire.