The study of sexuality is moving from the margins to centre stage in sociology, as the 1994 British Sociological Association annual conference on 'Sexualities in Social Context' demonstrated. Drawn from that conference, the papers in this volume contribute to the lively and significant debates which have developed on the relationship between the sexual and the social, and between gender and sexuality. The focus here is on women, although always in relation to men, and to the dominance of normative heterosexuality and gendered power relations. From different theoretical perspectives, and employing a range of analytical techniques on a fascinating variety of empirical data, the authors explore the themes of gendered identity, the construction of sexuality, embodiment and control. The social contexts in which these themes are elaborated in this stimulating collection include the family, the law, the education system, medical practice and discourse, and cultural representations and texts.