224 - Thematic Session. Sexuality Research on U.S. Latinas and Latinos

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Abstract

The groundbreaking publication, “Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior” by senior sociologist Tomás Almaguer, was what broke the silence when it was first published in 1991 to pave the road, validate, and inspire, in the years to come, the intellectual concerns and curiosity of an emerging generation of Latina and Latino sociologists looking for answers to crucial research questions. By exploring topics such as sexuality and immigration, sex education and family life, and relationships and intimacy in same-sex couples, Latina and Latino sociologists have made a contribution to the scholarship that is weaving together Latinidad as more than a minority, and making sexuality as a non-taboo issue. This panel will reunite some of these scholars in order to engage in a critical dialogue about the past, present, and future of sociological research examining different and contrasting aspects of the sex lives of U.S. Latina and Latino populations.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez, University of Texas-Austin

Presider

• Marysol Asencio, University of Connecticut

Individual Presentations

• Latina Sexualities Research: Emerging Discourses from within the Constraints of the Academy - Katie Linette Acosta, Georgia State University

• Transnationalism and the Making of Dynamic Sexual Cultures: New Conceptual Frameworks in the Study of Latina and Latino Sexualities - Hector Carrillo, Northwestern University

• New Directions in (and Persisting Challenges to) Latina and Latino Sexualities Scholarship - Susana Peña, Bowling Green State University

Discussant

• Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, American University