An Education in Sexuality and Sociality

This book offers a profound analysis of homosociality, an authentic critique of universities, and an upclose look into the lives of a subset of college men. I believe this book has the power to impact praxis for many student affairs practitioners and higher education administrators by allowing these professionals the opportunity to take a hard look at their practices and seek to gain a better understanding of their role in perpetuating heteronormativity on college campuses. This work is important in an age of increasing diversity on college campuses. I look forward to seeing the impact this text has on the landscape of higher education. * Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs *
Rich with ethnographic depth and insight, and theoretically sophisticated, Karioris’s An Education in Sexuality and Sociality: Heteronormativity on Campus is a must read for any who wish to understand the lives of young men in college outside of domineering narratives of violence, pack-bonding, and assault. Karioris challenges current understandings of homosociality theory that often paint men as violent, aggressive, and sexual predators. He brings to light new ways in which we can theorise and understand men’s friendships and intimate ties. * Sexualities: Studies in Culture and Society *
This work is necessary for higher education professionals to put a critical eye to longstanding traditions, practices, and policies and recognize our role in perpetuating heteronormativity and masculine hegemony on college campuses. . . . This work offers higher education professionals an analytical lens to view university practices related to residence life, programming, policies, and campus environments. . . this work provides much value to higher education and student affairs scholarship by providing honest critique through the lens of another discipline. * Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs *
An Education in Sexuality and Sociality: Heteronormativity on Campus contributes to research on male identity, masculinity, and homosociality. It would be particularly useful for scholars interested in gender, homosociality, identity development, and ethnographic fieldwork. * Gender & Society *
Male friendships and vulnerability are at the heart of Karioris’ intimate ethnography. The careful fieldwork of An Education in Sexuality and Sociality offers us an important and original corrective to the stereotypes of college men as violent misogynists. Karioris shows us instead how homosociality can be a form of resistance and source of self-esteem on a campus saturated with heteronormative values, hook-up myths, and class hierarchies. -- Nancy Lindisfarne, co-editor of Dislocating Masculinity: Comparative Ethnographies
Bringing together three old institutions- higher education, marriage and heterosexual masculinity – that are assumed to be redundant at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Frank Karioris has produced a unique text of major significance for the future. A highly skilled researcher, he wonderfully captures the social and sexual intimacies, caring and anxieties of a group of male friends, revealing a university-based hidden pedagogy as they are prepared and prepare themselves for their future domestic and public lives. The intertwining of the young men’s narratives and the author’s analysis serves to rework the three concepts providing a highly innovative language to understand An Education in Sexuality and Sociality at a time when the sex/gender order is in the process of being challenged and reconfigured. -- Mairtin Mac an Ghaill, Newman University
With high rates of sexual assault on university campuses, this insightful book explores the role of all-male residence halls in the sexualities, homosocial relations, and heteronormativity among college-age young men. Its vivid ethnographic detail will be invaluable to constituencies committed to institutional polices, practices, and traditions that disrupt patriarchy in higher education and beyond. -- Joseph Derrick Nelson, Professor of Educational Studies at Swarthmore College