Space, Place and Sexual Sociality: Towards an 'Atmospheric Analysis'

In this article we seek to contribute to the spatial turn in sociology by highlighting the socializing, cultivating and pedagogical properties of space in relation to sexual sociality and sexual practice. Towards this end, we develop two fundamental concepts — space and place — and anchor these to an existing corpus of empirical research on sexuality and space. This article explores public restrooms, bathhouses and sadomasochistic dungeons as organized sexual spaces, and in particular analyses how these places and spaces are organized and become organized around sexual activity. We argue that analysing the role of space in sexual sociality requires attention to both space and place, and their interrelationships — in short, an atmospheric analysis.