Linda Rae Bennett
Personal Information
Description
Associate Professor Linda Rae Bennett is a medical anthropologist who focuses on reproductive and sexual health and rights, gender based violence, and gendered health inequities. Over the past two decades she has worked in multiple countries in Asia and the Pacific, and is a global leader in research on sexual and reproductive health in Indonesia. She is Head of the Education and Learning Unit at the Nossal Institute.
Books
Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Indonesia
Winner of the 2015 Ruth Benedict Prize for Outstanding Edited Volume. Sex, sexuality and sexual relationships are hotly debated in Indonesia, triggering complex and often passionate responses. This innovative volume explores these issues in a variety of ways. It highlights historical and newer forms of sexual diversity, as well as the social responses they provoke. It critiques differing representations of sexuality, pointing to the multiplicity of discourses within which sexuality and ‘the sexual’ are understood in modern-day Indonesia. Placing sexuality centre-stage and locating it within the specific historical context of the Reformasi era, this landmark volume explores understandings and practices across a wide variety of sites, focusing in on a diverse group of Indonesian actors, and the contested meanings that sexuality carries. Beginning with a substantive introduction and concluding with a scholarly reflection on key issues, the volume is framed around the four themes of sexual politics, health, diversity and representations. It seeks both to present new empirical findings as well as to add to existing theoretical analysis. This work fills an important gap in our understanding of the evolution and contemporary dynamics of Indonesian sexualities. It will be of interest to scholars and academics from disciplines including gender and sexuality studies, global health, sexual and reproductive health, anthropology, sociology and Asian studies.