ABSTRACT
Figurations are distillations of shared meanings in words or images (Haraway 1997) that reply upon multiple, contested, and often contradictory understandings of what get called sexes, genders, and sexualities to make sense of and secure the world. As we outline in this chapter, gendered and sexualized figurations are implicitly and explicitly drawn upon in security theory and practice. Because gendered and sexualized figurations of security participate in the organization, regulation, and conduct of international security, security scholars and practitioners need clear theoretical and methodological frameworks to help them identify and analyse gendered and sexualized figurations.
