Almost 30 years later, silence is still here with us: introduction of the themed issue

Since the milestone publication of Mapping Desire in 1995, geographies of sexualities have found increasing legitimacy and visibility through, among others, publications, conferences and the successful careers of some scholars in the field. However, the materiality of sex and bodies remains overlooked, this making Jon Binnie’s critique (e.g. 1997) of the squeamishness of academic knowledge still timely and relevant. By reflecting on the limitations of current geographies of sexualities scholarship, in this introduction we present the aims, contents and contributions of the themed issue as a whole and the different papers composing it. We conclude by acknowledging that the ‘dirty work’ of sex research cannot be left to individuals (often occupying marginalized positions) but requires a collective effort from the entire human geography academic community.