John Gagnon and William Simon's Sexual Conduct was first published in 1973; a paperback edition was published in 1974. It has been a highly influential study on the sociological aspects of sexuality — in many ways the fons et origo of the social constructionist approach, and the foundational text to view sexuality as scripted. Two essays are provided by the original authors in this 25th Anniversary Retrospective. Gagnon locates the work in place, career and history; Simon identifies the book as a `prematurely postmodern' study engaged in an anti-essentialist formulation for approaching sexualities. Both writers pay homage to the influence of Kenneth Burke on their work.
Gagnon, John H.
(1991) `The Implicit and Explicit Use of Scripts in Sex Research', in John Bancroft, Clive Davis & Deborah Weinstein (eds) Annual Review of Sex Research. Mt Vernon, IO: Society for the Scientific Study of Sex.
2.
Gagnon, John H.
and Simon, William (1974) Sexual Conduct: The Social Sources of Human Sexuality, paperback edn.Chicago, IL: Aldine Press.
3.
Gagnon, John H.
and Simon, William (1987) `The Scripting of Oral-Genital Sexual Conduct', Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1: 1-25.
4.
Laumann, Edward O.
, Gagnon, John H., Michael, Robert T. and Michaels, Stuart (1994) The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
5.
Simon, William
(1996) Postmodern Sexualities. London: Routledge.
