Book excerpt: Paradoxically, while sex is everywhere in the media (sex sells!) the research into the coverage of sexuality by journalists is seriously marginalised in the academy. Look for texts on journalism's representation of love-making (in all its many manifestations) or a definition of 'sex journalism' and you will find very little. The opening section of Sex & Journalism: Critical, Global Perspectives provides two important overviews by Belinda Middleweek and Matthew Ricketson.The second section carries case studies by an international group of distinguished journalists-turned-academics. Subjects include:*reporters who dare to appropriate normally pejorative terms such as 'slut' and 'sex object' to promote progressive notions about gender and sexuality; *the ethics and methods in Gay Talese's The Voyeur's Motel; *a group of prostitutes in Mexico who turned to journalism to tell their unique stories; *sex crimes, cover-ups and conspiracy theories;*the coverage of homosexuality in 1980s Portugal; *and how a television investigation disrupted consent laws in New South Wales, Australia. Contributors include Kylie Cardell and Emma Maguire, Todd Schack, Claire Konkes, Julie Wheelwright, Antonio Castillo, Manuel Coutinho and Anna Hoyles. The editors are Sue Joseph, Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney, and Richard Lance Keeble, Professor of Journalism at the University of Lincoln and Honorary Professor at Liverpool Hope University.