Exploring the Tensions Between Masculinity Constructs and Connections With Faculty and Staff Among Gay Latino Collegians

• In Event: Latinx College Athletics, Identity, Masculinity Constructs, and Language Culture

Abstract

This study utilizes Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s Border theory to explore how internalized messages of masculinity shape the ways that gay Latino men develop connections with university staff and faculty. Specifically, we highlight how internalized messages of masculinity learned primarily in the context of the home create spaces of tension, nepantla, within heteronormative campus settings. Guided by portraiture methodology, we present three themes identified from the data, including Latinos developing relationships: 1) solely for academic purposes, 2) that explicitly involve women, and, in other cases, Latinos 3) displaying resistant behaviors to developing connections. The data are based on five individual interviews with five participants for a total of 25 interviews.

Authors

• Oscar Patron, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Fernando Rodriguez, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities