By Matthew Reisz. Novelists can write about sex in ways that are exciting or disturbing, comic or nostalgic, lyrical or grotesque. None of these options is really open to academics. And just as there is a good deal of academic writing about food, sport or rock ’n’ roll, for example, that manages to drain all the fun and passion out of these topics, the same is certainly true of sex. Fortunately, there are also many academics who manage to be serious and illuminating about sex without being dull. More...