Of Letters and Lists: How the MPAA Puts Films Recommended for LGBTQ Adolescents Out of Reach

ABSTRACT

The film ratings system employed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has been criticized by LGBTQ critics who claim the system discriminates by holding queer content to a higher ratings standard than content in other films. The MPAA argues the constituency for its ratings system is parents in traditional families who may find queer themes inappropriate for their children. Paradoxically, a number of organizations serving adolescents identifying as LGBTQ or as questioning their sexualities have created lists of recommended films, many of whose MPAA ratings make them virtually off-limits to teens unless their parents approve. Cyberspace is also populated with lists of films recommended for teens regardless of their sexuality and gender identity. This article compares ratings distributions for lists of films recommended for queer teens and those recommended for mainstream teens and finds evidence of negative impact on access by queer teens to potentially helpful film content.     

Staff Member Reactions to Same-Gender,Resident-to-Resident Sexual Behavior Within Long-Term Care Facilities

The current study assesses ageism and heterosexism relating to older adult sexual activity within long-term care facilities. To assess caregiver reactions, 153 residential care facility staff members read one of three vignettes. Each vignette described a scenario in which a staff member walks in on two residents (male/female, male/male, or female/female) engaging in sexual activity. Although no main effects were discovered for vignette type, exploratory analyses revealed that the facility where participants were employed was significantly related to their ratings of approval. Furthermore, an interaction effect between vignette and facility types was also discovered for caregivers’ approval of sexual activity among residents. Additionally, a strong overall approval rating of older adult sexuality was reported by staff members. The results of this study warrant that further research is necessary regarding older adults’ perception of caregiver bias, as well as further investigation of caregivers’ perceptions of older adults’ sexual activity.     

Chicks with dicks, men in dresses: what it means to be a drag queen

One of the burning questions about drag queens among both scholars and audiences is whether they are more gender-revolutionaries than gender-conservatives. Do they primarily destabilize gender and sexual categories by making visible the social basis of femininity and masculinity, heterosexuality and homosexuality? Or are they more apt to reinforce the dominant binary and hierarchical gender and sexual systems by appropriating gender displays and expressing sexual desires associated with traditional femininity and institutionalized heterosexuality? We address this question through a case study of drag queens at the 801 Cabaret in Key West, Florida. On the basis of life histories, observations of their performances, and focus groups with audience members, we examine the role of gender and sexuality in the process of becoming a drag queen and in the personal identities of drag queens. We find that transgenderism, same-sex sexuality, and theatrical performance are central to the personal identities of these drag queens, who use drag to forge personal and collective identities that are neither masculine nor feminine, but rather their own complex genders.     

Thoughts on the nature of identity: how disorders of sex development inform clinical research about gender identity disorders

Disorders of sex development (DSD), like gender dysphoria, are conditions with major effects on child sexuality and identity, as well as sexual orientation. Each may in some cases lead to change of gender from that assigned neonatally. These similarities-and the conditions' differences-provide a context for reviewing the articles in this issue about clinical approaches to children with gender dysphoria, in relation to assessment, intervention, and ethics.     

“It Has No Color,It Has No Gender,It’s Gender Bending”: Gender and Sexuality Fluidity and Subversiveness in Drag Performance

ABSTRACT

Gender identity is a key question for drag performers. Previous research has shown a lack of consensus about the subversiveness and gender fluidity of drag performers. This article examines the question: How does the relationship between performers and their audience affect the subversive nature and gender representation of drag performers in this study? Furthermore, is this relationship complicated by sexuality? This study uses ethnographic and interview methods, examining experiences of 10 drag performers. Findings indicate mutuality in the relationship between performers and audience. The recursiveness of this relationship provides a constant feedback to the performers in their effort to displace the audience’s previously held notions. The performers have fluid understandings of gender and sexuality, often presenting multiple genders in and out of drag. Interactions between performers and their audience indicate their belief in gender fluidity; moreover, the drag performers themselves desire to be subversive and gender and sexually fluid.     

Alienation of sexuality in male erotic dancing

This ethnographic study investigates a male-for-male gender arrangement of erotic dancing. Analysis of the data suggests that the men in this occupation understand their labor as titillation, a pleasurable erotic flirtation, for the entertainment of the consumer. Central to the performance is a constructed sexuality that is not reflective of the desires of the dancer but, rather, those of the consumer. The alienation of the dancer from his sexuality may result in behaviors and encounters that violate his normative and moral expectations.     

A Body of Text

This article re-evaluates the relationship between gender identities, embodiment, sexuality and text-based, synchronous CMC (computer-mediated communication). A discourse analysis was conducted on two different IRC channels: #Cyberbar, a channel that hosts predominantly “straight” male/female gender performances; and #Queer, a channel mostly visited by participants who articulate “gay male” gender identities. The notion of embodiment played a pivotal role in both channels, as demonstrated by the identification of three “interpretative repertoires” that involve the invocation of corporeal aspects in the participants' performance of gender and sexuality. This invocation reaffirms gender's status as connected to a binary sexed body, which limits the scope of gender performances in a text-based environment such as IRC. However, the discursive interactions in #Queer did articulate alternative interpretations of masculinity, which challenged traditional heteronormative standards governing “male behavior.” Eventually, it is concluded that the discourse in both channels is constructed by participants who bring their everyday, embodied experiences online. IRC might be a textual environment, in contrast to many of the web's popular graphical spaces, but this does not mean that the body is any less present.     

Gays,Guys, and Mchicha Mwiba: Same-Sex Relations and Subjectivities in Dar es Salaam

Drawing on 15 months of fieldwork, this article explores ways in which same-sex relations are perceived and performed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. While several different constructions of same-sex sexuality coexist in Dar es Salaam, it is common to conceive of same-sex practicing men as falling into two main categories. Men belonging to each of these differ with respect to the corporeal, gendered, and social positions that are open to them, and typically form dyads across the conceptual boundary of difference that runs between them. The article speaks to the importance of examining sexuality and gender in particular sociocultural settings.     

No homo

The phrase no homo arose in hip-hop lyrics of the 1990s as a discourse interjection to negate supposed sexual and gender transgressions. Today the phrase has gained currency beyond hip-hop culture and pervades racial and gender continua. As a result, its increasing prevalence in mainstream speech has caused critics to deplore no homo as outright homophobia. This article describes the origins and scope of no homo. Instead of easily identifying the phrase as homophobic, the article invites readers to examine the phrase as a way of understanding the complexities in gender identification processes along with the linguistic dexterity necessary for survival in certain sociocultural groups. By exploring the macrosociological issues which created and perpetuate the need for no homo, we arrive at a deeper understanding of sexuality, marginalized sexuality, and the (often unspoken) uneasiness with sexual and gendered nonconformity.     

Constructing risk and responsibility: a gender,race, and class analysis of news representations of adolescent sexuality

Teen sexuality has been portrayed as dangerous (i.e., risk of pregnancy, STIs, sexual victimization for girls) yet pervasive in a growing post-feminist culture of sexualization. Adolescents are tasked with negotiating the difficult terrain of desire and danger as adults persistently construct contradictory discourses and panics around teen sexuality. This study examines a sample of online news media through a feminist intersectional lens, considering race, class, gender, and sexuality as mutually imbricated within dynamics of power, to analyze how contemporary news articles on teen sexuality construct adolescent sexuality at the intersection of neoliberalism and the sexual double standard. Our analysis revealed three particular moral panics around risk for girls: (1) pregnancy and STIs; (2) engagements in sexualization; and (3) sexual victimization. We illuminate how the sexual double standard and neoliberal notions of accountability reinstate and reproduce gendered, raced, and classed representations of adolescent sexualities.     

Coming Out of the Shadows and the Closet: Visibility Schemas Among Undocuqueer Immigrants

ABSTRACT

Centering the experiences of 31 undocuqueer immigrants, this study seeks to understand the ways that undocuqueer immigrants negotiate the boundaries of social performance by revealing or concealing their gender, sexuality, and immigration status. Findings of this study reveal how, in order to avoid the constant threat of rejection (both legal and social), undocuqueer immigrants engage visibility schemas and make strategic decisions about coming out of the shadows and the closet across different contexts. Undocuqueer immigrants’ narratives reveal the ways the closet resembles the shadows in that both provide protection from the outside world, yet neither are considered suitable places for sustaining life. This study raises implications for both research and policy by considering how the intersection of gender, sexuality, and immigration status nullifies neoliberal narratives of coming out as an empowering process and illustrating the uneven landscapes of social acceptance and political control that undocuqueer immigrants must negotiate.     

“All of My Lovers Fit Into This Scale”: Sexual Minority Individuals’ Responses to Two Novel Measures of Sexual Orientation

Previous qualitative research on traditional measures of sexual orientation raise concerns regarding how well these scales capture sexual minority individuals’ experience of sexuality. The present research focused on the critique of two novel scales developed to better capture the way sexual and gender minority individuals conceptualize sexuality. Participants were 179 sexual minority (i.e., gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, queer, asexual) individuals who identified as cisgender (n = 122) and transgender (n = 57). Participants first completed the new scales, then provided qualitative responses regarding how well each scale captured their sexuality. The Sexual-Romantic Scale enabled the measurement of sexual and romantic attraction to each sex independently (same-sex and other-sex). Participants resonated with the way the Sexual-Romantic scale disaggregated sexual and romantic attraction. Although cisgender monosexual (lesbian/gay) individuals positively responded to the separation of same- and other-sex attraction, individuals with either plurisexual (bisexual, pansexual, or fluid) or transgender identities found the binary conceptualization of sex/gender problematic. The Gender-Inclusive Scale incorporated same- and other-sex attraction as well as dimensions of attraction beyond those based on sex (attraction to masculine, feminine, androgynous, and gender non-conforming individuals). The incorporation of dimensions of sexual attraction outside of sex in the Gender-Inclusive Scale was positively regarded by participants of all identities. Findings indicate that the Sexual-Romantic and Gender-Inclusive scales appear to address some of the concerns raised in previous research regarding the measurement of sexual orientation among sexual minority individuals.     

Status Homophily,Sexual Identity,and Lesbian Social Ties

The literature on friendship and social networks finds that individuals form social ties with people who are like them—a much studied concept called homophily. However, few studies have explicitly examined sexual identity as a point of homophily. Scholars from multiple disciplines have long argued that sexuality influences the organization of our social worlds, yet most studies of friendship and social networks under-examine or overlook the influence of sexual identity. This study addresses that gap by looking at status homophily among lesbian social ties to examine the influence of sexual identity, as well as gender, race, class, and family, on their personal networks. Using survey data from 544 U.S. lesbian respondents, the findings make visible some of the factors and forces that shape social ties for lesbians. The results point to the importance of sexuality as an organizing element of social life, and suggest that studies that examine social networks or friendships more often make sexual identity, gender, and intersecting social locations a central focus.     

Making Christabel: sexual transgression and its implications in Coleridge's "Christabel"

Even among critics who recognize the role of lesbianism in "Christabel," none consider the implications of lesbianism for the characters. Many readers describe Geraldine as a kind of supernatural power, a demon. But Geraldine's identity is far from clear, and we don't need to explain away the lesbian sexuality as demonically-inspired in order to understand the dynamics of the text. The poem accounts for its characters' interactions on what is a more visceral and less fantastic level, the implications of a lesbian act in the world of "Christabel." In "Making Christabel," I consider the protagonist's social and psychological stresses in terms of an encounter with lesbian sexuality in order to understand the poem's ambiguities: Geraldine's guilt, Christabel's pleasure, the manipulation of gender roles, and the dynamics between Christabel, Geraldine, and Sir Leoline. To this end, I look at how the "unnatural" sexuality between Christabel and Geraldine is marked by a reversal of gender expectations. Sexual transgression is suggested not simply by two women heading off to share one bed, but by the manipulation of gender roles on their way to and within the bedroom. I also read the homosocial bond be tween Sir Leoline and Sir Roland in Part II as a foil. The knights offer the two women a concrete representation of their transgression from the existing power structure. They suggest not only the extent of the two women's deviance from the patriarchy, but a way to reassume an orthodox social role.     

The pattern of sexual politics: feminism, homosexuality and pedophilia

Until recently sex and gender issues were thought to be biological or natural rather than political. The feminist movement largely changed perceptions of gender, and the gay and lesbian movements significantly altered conceptions of sex, so that what were once seen as permanent moral standards are now viewed as historical and political constructions. As views of these groups have moved towards social constructionism, perceptions of child sexuality have become more absolutist. Current attitudes towards child sexuality and representations of it resemble historical attitudes towards women and homosexuals. This article argues that there is a two-phase pattern of sexual politics. The first is a battle to prevent the battle, to keep the issue from being seen as political and negotiable. Psychological and moral categories are used to justify ridicule and preclude any discussions of the issue, and standard Constitutional guarantees are seen as irrelevant. The second phase more closely resembles traditional politics as different groups argue over rights and privileges. Feminist and gay/lesbian politics have recently entered the second phase, while pedophilia is in the first.     

“It Really Is Not Just Gay,but African American Gay”: The Impact of Community and Church on the Experiences of Black Lesbians Living in North Central Florida

ABSTRACT

The experiences of Black lesbians highlight the unique circumstance found at the intersection of sexuality, race, and gender. However, most sexuality research tends to focus on White lesbians and White gay men, and most race research tends to focus on Black heterosexuals. Furthermore, research on the Black gay community tends to focus on those living in the Northeast or on the West Coast, neglecting experiences of those living in the more politically, socially, and religiously conservative South. This article draws on data obtained from semistructured interviews with 12 Black lesbians living in north central Florida, exploring their perspectives as they negotiate a social world of intersecting oppressions. Participants especially highlight how they contextualized their sexuality in racialized terms and negotiated it in racially defined communities.     

Moffies, artists, and queens: race and the production of South African gay male drag

This article draws on seventeen months of ethnographic fieldwork in South Africa to explore the experiences of urban and township drag performers. I show that two distinct sex-gender-sexuality systems have emerged based in the sociopolitical history of South Africa, and I argue that urban drag produces race oppositionally and examine how township femininity creates raced forms of gender, sex, and sexuality. Contemporary South African drag foregrounds the performativity and constitution of race and gender. My analysis attempts to challenge definitions of "drag" and "audience," suggesting the necessity for an integrated reconceptualization of drag studies.     

Co-Sexuality and Organizing: The Master Narrative of “Normal” Sexuality in the Midwestern Workplace

ABSTRACT

Human sexuality is a highly regulated but fluid construct that people communicatively organize around. What has been socially constructed as “normal” sexuality (e.g., preferences, rights, vocabulary, etc.) has shifted dramatically over time, and differently between communities and geographic boundaries. In workplace contexts, where policies and daily practices explicitly and implicitly regulate performances of and communication about sexuality, regional and cultural sexual “norms” can affect how people of diverse sexualities understand and experience their jobs. The Midwestern United States is a particularly complex and diverse region when considering sexual equality in the workplace. Using the lens of co-sexuality, this study explores how people identifying with varying sexual, gender, and professional identities in Midwestern workplaces explained their perceptions of “normal” sexuality and how it affected their workplace experiences. Participants drew on the master narrative of the Midwest, composed of perceived Judeo-Christian norms and a cultural discomfort with difference, and described feeling simultaneously pulled toward and pushed away from cultural sexual “norms” in their day-to-day work environments.     

Conception of male and female homosexual stereotypes among university undergraduates

Following the procedure used by Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, & Vogel (1970), male and female undergraduates described a male homosexual, lesbian, and normal adult in terms of 41 adjective rating scales, each scale having a masculine and a feminine pole. Results indicated that compared to ratings of the normal adult, the male homosexual was viewed unfavorably and was significantly different from "normality" on 27 scales. Ratings of the lesbian were closer to those for the normal adult, although significant differences appeared on 11 scales. Ratings for the lesbian differed significantly from those for the male homosexual on 20 scales. On all but two scales, lesbian ratings were closer to the more favorable pole than were male homosexual ratings. The position seems supported that male gender nonconformity is viewed more seriously than female gender nonconformity.