Compromising Positions
Sex Scandals, Politics, and American Christianity
Dr. Leslie Dorrough Smith
Reviews and Awards
"Compromising Positions is for anyone interested in moving beyond shock at the hypocrisy of American Evangelicalism's sexual politics to understanding whose interests are served, and how, through the seeming contradictions of its discourses." -- Elaine Schnabel, American Religion
"Leslie Dorrough Smith has once again offered readers a masterpiece of critical scholarship, drawing attention to how coverage of and debate over public sex scandals function to legitimate contested national narratives and particular visions of white, hetero-masculinity. I know of few scholars capable of presenting sophisticated, counterintuitive, and complex arguments with this level of clarity, precision, and accessibility. This book should be of interest to scholars who study whiteness, masculinity, nationhood, or evangelical Christianity, or who simply are invested in the future of US politics." -- Craig Martin, St. Thomas Aquinas College
"In Compromising Positions, Smith demonstrates that religious sex scandals are about far more than religion and sex. Through deft rhetorical analysis, she reveals how gender, race, and nationalism determine which politicians fall from grace and which survive to see another election cycle." -- John A. Schmalzbauer, Missouri State University
"With her characteristic combination of humor and incisive analysis, Leslie Dorrough Smith offers a cool-headed consideration of the scripts and stages actors use to perform public moral outrage about sex scandals in US political theater. Paying particular attention to codifications of race and gender in these performances, Compromising Positions brilliantly responds to media echo chambers by asking its readers to slip into something a little less comfortable." -- K. Merinda Simmons, University of Alabama