The Sexual Organization of the City

Drawing on extensive surveys and interviews with Chicago adults, Edward O. Laumann and his colleagues show that the city is, in the face of pop culture evidence to the contrary, a place where sexual choices and options are constrained. From Wicker Park and Boys Town to the South Side and Pilsen, the editors observe that sexual behavior and partnering are significantly limited by such factors as the neighborhood you live in, your ethnicity, your sexual preference, and the circle of friends to which you belong. In other words, the social and institutional networks that city dwellers occupy potentially limit their sexual options by making different types of sexual activities, relationships, or meeting places less accessible.

"The Sexual Organization of the City is billed as a sort of academic 'Sex in the City'—though one that examines a more diverse slice of metropolitan life. Over three years, sociologist Edward O. Laumann and his colleagues questioned 2,114 people in four Chicago neighborhoods on everything from how many partners they'd had in their lives and where they met them to whether they were cheating. . . . The result is yet another glimpse of American sexual paradoxes."—Christopher Shea, Boston Globe