Sexual Inequalities and Social Justice

This pioneering collection of ten ethnographically rich essays signals the emergence of a new paradigm of social analysis committed to understanding and analyzing social oppression in the context of sexuality and gender. The contributors, an interdisciplinary group of social scientists representing anthropology, sociology, public health, and psychology, illuminate the role of sexuality in producing and reproducing inequality, difference, and structural violence among a range of populations in various geographic, historical, and cultural arenas. In particular, the essays consider racial minorities including Hispanics, Koreans, and African Americans; discuss disabled people; examine issues including substance abuse, sexual coercion, and HIV/AIDS; and delve into other topics including religion and politics. Rather than emphasizing sexuality as an individual trait, the essays view it as a social phenomenon, focusing in particular on cultural meaning and real-world processes of inequality such as racism and homophobia. The authors address the complex and challenging question of how the research under discussion here can make a real contribution to the struggle for social justice.

Niels Teunis is Assistant Professor in the Program in Human Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University. Gilbert H. Herdt is Director of the National Sexuality Resource Center and Professor in Human Sexuality Studies at San Francisco State University. Among his books is Ritualized Homosexuality in Melanesia (UC Press).

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Analysis of Sexual Inequality

NIELS TEUNIS AND GILBERT HERDT

Part One: Sexual Coercion and Sexual Stigma

1. Childhood Sexual Abuse and HIV among Latino Gay Men: The Price of Sexual Silence during the AIDS Epidemic

SONYA GRANT ARREOLA

2. In Our Own Backyard: HIV/AIDS Stigmatization in the Latino Gay Community

RAFAEL M. DÍAZ

3. Knowing Girls: Gender and Learning in School-Based Sexuality Education

JESSICA FIELDS

4. Sexual Enslavement and Reproductive Health: Narratives of Han among Korean Comfort Women Survivors

CHUNGHEE SARAH SOH

Part Two: Seeking Sexual Pleasure

5. Where Does Oppression End and Pleasure Begin? Confronting Sexual and Gender Inequality in HIV Prevention Work

HÉCTOR CARRILLO

6. Circuit Culture: Ethnographic Reflections on Inequality, Sexuality, and Life on the Gay Party Circuit

CHRISTOPHER CARRINGTON

7. Confesiones de Mujer: The Catholic Church and Sacred Morality in the Sex Lives of Mexican Immigrant Women

GLORIA GONZÁLEZ-LÓPEZ

8. Disability and Sexuality: Toward a Constructionist Focus on Access and the Inclusion of Disabled People in the Sexual Rights Movement

RUSSELL P. SHUTTLEWORTH

Part Three: Sexual Inequality and Sociality

9. The Family-Friends of Older Gay Men and Lesbians

BRIAN DE VRIES AND PATRICK HOCTEL

10. Sexual Inequality, Youth Empowerment, and the GSA: A Community Study in California

GILBERT HERDT, STEPHEN T. RUSSELL, JEFFREY SWEAT, AND MICHELLE MARZULLO

Contributors

Index