Based on examination of an online community in which white `str8'-identified men assert that sex with other white men bolsters their heterosexual masculinity, this article examines the heterosexual and racialized meanings that white str8 dudes attach to their same-sex behaviors. The study points to the role of whiteness in the process of establishing heterosexual `realness', or believable straight culture. Findings indicate that for the white str8 dude, Black male bodies disrupt the staging of normal `male bonding', and occupy a distinctly queerer space `down low'. I argue that in a culture constituted by both a racial and sexual binary, whiteness and heterosexuality are `natural' bedfellows that simultaneously signify the `really, really normal' subject.
This article takes femme/FTM sexual relationships as a point of departure to consider gender itself as a form of labor, or to illustrate how gender subjectivities are constituted by various labors required of, and provided by, intimate others. Analysis focuses on the work that women do in relationships with transgendered men, specifically the work that they do to validate and celebrate their partners’ masculinity. ‘Gender labor’ extends beyond the work people do to achieve our own gender coherence; it also describes emotional, physical, and sexual care-taking efforts aimed at suspending self-focus and helping others achieve the varied forms of gender recognition they long for. Though gender labor is both given and received by all people, the author argues that it weighs down most heavily on feminine subjects, the people for whom caring, sex and other ‘labors of love’ are naturalized, expected or forced.
This article builds on examinations of whiteness in organizations by considering how white normativity-or the often unconscious and invisible ideas and practices that make whiteness appear natural and right-is sustained even in organizations that are attentive to structural factors. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, this article critically examines the racial identity and culture of the Center, a Los Angeles lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organization with a national reputation for multiculturalism, a visible presence of people of color in leadership, and a staff of more than 50 percent people of color. Despite these indicators of racial diversity, the organization also maintained a local reputation among queer people of color as the white LGBT organization in Los Angeles. The author demonstrates that the Center's formal and public attempts to build and proclaim a racially diverse collective identity, along with its reliance on mainstream diversity frames available in the broader environment, became the very practices that employees of color identified as evidence of the white normative culture of the organization.
This article describes the work of the ‘Action on Living Well: Asking You’ group – an involvement group of people with dementia and carers attached to the IDEAL research study. The article describes the work of the group, the methods that have helped them to stay involved and people’s perspectives on their experiences of being involved and the impact it has had, for themselves and others. The article has been written following a reflective piece of work with the ‘Action on Living Well: Asking You’ group to review and remember the work of the past four years. An accompanying film brings to life the work and activities of the group, available at www.idealproject.org.uk/mclass/
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