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Sexual Orientation, Middle Adulthood, and Narratives of Transition and Change

Andrew J. Hostetler

in Handbook of Psychology and Sexual Orientation

This chapter explores the shifting narratives of midlife within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, and the general role of sexuality in middle adulthood in creating the kinds of ... More

This chapter explores the shifting narratives of midlife within lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, and the general role of sexuality in middle adulthood in creating the kinds of stories that inspire social change. It draws particular attention to the unexpected or eruptive life experiences that are major catalysts for adults’ meaning-making efforts, while also acknowledging that even expectable transitions and changes are culturally “underscripted,” particularly in mid- and later-life. The idea that gay and lesbian lives are relatively uncharted presumes that heterosexual lives are fully scripted. However, the continuing popularity of the midlife crisis narrative should dispel any notion that the search for meaning or the need for storytelling in middle adulthood is unique to sexual minority individuals.Less

Transgender Erotic Performers in South Asia

Anna Morcom

in Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance: Cultures of Exclusion

This chapter introduces transgender erotic ‘female’ performers, known as kothis, drawing on historical sources as well as contemporary ethnography. It compares and distinguishes kothi performers from ... More

This chapter introduces transgender erotic ‘female’ performers, known as kothis, drawing on historical sources as well as contemporary ethnography. It compares and distinguishes kothi performers from the more visible and well-known eunuchs or hijras of South Asia in terms of gender, sexuality, performing role, ritual status and class. It then discusses historical sources relating to erotic male performers in India, illustrating that, as with the female erotic performers, they have deep roots in the past. The chapter then focuses on kothi performers in the context of gender and performance and explores dance as a traditional, liminal, socio-cultural space for kothis, drawing on theoretical as well as ethnographic material. It compares kothis with female performers, as opposed to hijras, and interprets female hereditary performers as, in many senses, also ‘transgender’.Less

Homophobia, transphobia, and the homonationalist gaze: challenges of young Bangladeshi homosexuals and transgenders in migration

Raihan M. Sharif

Glenda Tibe Bonifacio (ed.)

in Global Youth Migration and Gendered Modalities

Homosexuals and transgenders in Muslim majority countries go through multiple struggles. In Bangladesh, the governments’ apparent indecision regrading a British colonial rule banning ‘intercourse ... More

Homosexuals and transgenders in Muslim majority countries go through multiple struggles. In Bangladesh, the governments’ apparent indecision regrading a British colonial rule banning ‘intercourse against the order of nature,’ a problematic stance on fatwa, Islamic laws and, finally, the national abandonment of transgenders tend to shape societal attitudes to and reception of homosexuals and transgenders. This chapter examines some common challenges that young homosexuals and transgenders experience as they migrate from the rural to the urban areas in Bangladesh, particularly the role of religion and how they negotiate the absence of state protection on their rights. As a small segment of them manages to migrate to ‘queer friendly countries,’ this chapter also investigates the struggles of young Bangladeshi homosexuals and transgenders in liberal societies in the ‘queer friendly countries’ where their rights are perceived to be protected.Less

Who Claims Modernity?: The International Frame of Sexual Recognition

Randall Williams

in The Divided World: Human Rights and Its Violence

This chapter discusses how the foundational oppositionality between decolonizing praxis and human rights has been reconfigured since the early 1960s, as one formerly colonized nation after another ... More

This chapter discusses how the foundational oppositionality between decolonizing praxis and human rights has been reconfigured since the early 1960s, as one formerly colonized nation after another achieved independence and as more and more political collectives on both sides of the international divide began to adopt the discourse of human rights. It then examines two social movements: the International Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Commission (ILGHRC) and the indigenous army of the EZLN (the “Zapatistas”). It examines the solidarity work from the global gay north as advanced by ILGHRC around a series of murders of working-class transgenders in Chiapas, Mexico, between 1991 and 1993 as well as the murders of five affluent gay men in Mexico City in 1992.Less