Racial, Ethnic, and National Boundaries

Sexual Intersections and Symbolic Interactions

Bibliographic Data

ID2481433
AuthorsJ Nagel (0000-0002-6452-0297, University of Kansas, corresponding author)
Year2001
Volume24
Issue2
Pages123-139
Publication date2001-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSymbolic Interaction (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0195-6086 • E-ISSN: 1533-8665
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/si.2001.24.2.123
OpenAlexW2050910863
LanguageEN
Citations received25
References cited38

Sex and race are strained, if not strange, bedfellows. Sexual depictions and denigrations of racial, ethnic, and national 'others' and the regulation of in-group sexual behavior are important mechanisms by which ethnic boundaries are constructed, maintained, and defended. Race, ethnicity, and the nation are sexualized, and sexuality is racialized, ethnicized, and nationalized. The sexual systems that prop up ethnic boundaries and define ethnic identities and communities tend to be inherently conservative blueprints for ethnosexual living. These systems stress endogamy, heterosexuality and reproduction under the rubric of traditional, often patriarchal family life for ethnic group members and tend to demonize and denigrate the sexuality of those outside ethnic boundaries or of those within ethnic communities who do not conform to heteronormative, heteroconventional models of sexuality. I present several examples of the intersections of race, ethnicity, nationalism, and sexuality/ies from U.S. and international settings, and I argue that the symbolic interaction between ethnicity and sexuality is central to their mutual constitution

Endogamy · Ethnic group · Heterosexuality · Human sexuality · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropology · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy

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