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Seral Aksakal details the policing of women’s sexualities, which extends from violence by the state through to that of measures taken by family members, especially older women, to constrain and contain younger women. In Turkey, as in so many contexts, women lack information and education about sexuality. This allows myths to thrive. Combined with a conservative political context, this further undermines women’s capacity to enjoy pleasurable sexual relationships, acting as a quiet form of violence that permeates society and exerts a powerful oppressive influence in women’s – and men’s – lives, and negative social messages about sexuality make it difficult for women to have enjoyable sexual relationships. …

Gender and development has tended to engage with sexuality only in relation to violence and ill-health. Although this has been hugely important in challenging violence against women, over-emphasizing these negative aspects has dovetailed with conservative ideologies that associate women’s sexualities with danger and fear. On the other hand, the media, the pharmaceutical industry, and pornography more broadly celebrate the pleasures of sex in ways that can be just as oppressive, often implying that only certain types of people - young, heterosexual, able-bodied, HIV-negative - are eligible for sexual pleasure. Women, Sexuality and the Political Power of Pleasure brings together challenges to these strictures and exclusions from both the South and North of the globe, with examples of activism, advocacy and programming which use pleasure as an entry point. …