Psychology of Sexualities: Past, present and future directions

Professor Elizabeth Peel, the new Chair of the Psychology of Sexualities Section, has been involved in the Section since its inception. She was the Editor of the Section’s previous publication, the Lesbian & Gay Psychology Review, and has gone on to publish prolifically in the field. Liz has published three books in the psychology of sexualities field including ‘Out in Psychology’ (Clarke & Peel, 2007) which won a distinguished book award in 2012 from the American Psychological Association’s Division 44 and the first undergraduate textbook in lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) psychology (Clarke et al. 2010) which won a British Psychological Society book prize in 2013. She has also won several prizes from the Section including the 2012 research prize. She is currently working on a co-edited book about Ageing and Sexualities with Sue Westwood and Rosie Harding (Peel et al., 2016). In March 2015, I interviewed Liz about her new role as Chair of the Section and her views on the current state of the field. What follows is an edited version of our conversation – Adam Jowett