Identity, desire and truth: homosociality and homoeroticism in Mexican migrant communities in the USA

Abstract

This paper examines the construction of a homoerotic social scene among Mexican migrants in California. It analyses the discourses of migrant men in the cities of San Diego and Fresno who identify themselves as heterosexual and have not had sexual experiences with men and those of members of civil society organisations doing HIV prevention work with migrant men, to show how an identity-based model of sexuality used by the HIV prevention organisations is counter to the strategic, non-identity-based model constructed by migrant men. With this incongruence as its starting point, the paper offers a critique both of the epistemological factors underlying the category of ‘men who have sex with men’ and the logic running through HIV prevention discourses that adhere to the Foucauldian notion of the deployment of sexuality, which demands both truth and coherence in subjects' sexuality.

Cet article examine la construction d'un monde social homo-érotique parmi des migrants mexicains en Californie. Il analyse les discours de migrants de sexe masculin vivant à San Diego et à Fresno qui s'identifient en tant qu'hétérosexuels et n'ont pas eu d'expériences sexuelles avec d'autres hommes. Il analyse aussi les discours des organisations issues de la société civile qui font un travail de prévention du VIH dans cette population, pour montrer combien le modèle identitaire de sexualité, sur lequel elles basent leurs actions, est en contradiction avec le modèle stratégique non identitaire construit par ces hommes. Avec cette contradiction pour point de départ, l'article propose une critique à la fois des facteurs épistémiologiques sous-jacents à la catégorie des ‘hommes qui ont des rapports avec des hommes’ et de la logique sur laquelle s'appuient les discours inspirés de la notion foucaldienne du déploiement de la sexualité, qui exige aussi bien une vérité qu'une cohérence dans la sexualité des individus.

En este artículo examinamos la construcción de un contexto social homoerótico entre emigrantes mexicanos de California. Analizamos por una parte los discursos de hombres emigrantes a las ciudades de San Diego y Fresno que se identifican como heterosexuales y no han tenido ninguna experiencia sexual con hombres, y por otra los discursos de miembros de organizaciones de la sociedad civil que se ocupan de intentar prevenir el HIV entre los emigrantes. Con este análisis queremos demostrar cómo un modelo de la sexualidad basado en la identidad utilizado por organizaciones para la prevención del virus del sida va en contra del modelo estratégico y no basado en la identidad construido por hombres emigrantes. Con esta incongruencia como punto de partida, en este artículo cuestionamos los factores epistemológicos detrás de la categoría de ‘hombres que tienen relaciones sexuales con hombres’ y la lógica que se utiliza en los discursos para la prevención del VIH que cumplen con la noción foucauldiana de la construcción de la sexualidad, que exige verdad y coherencia en la sexualidad de las personas.

Keywords:

• migrant
• homosexuality
• HIV prevention
• masculinity
• Mexico

Notes

1. It is not our intention to cover the complexity and diversity of the field of sexuality, which includes everything from orthodox sexology to radical feminist, gay and queer studies. This paper seeks only to clarify the theoretical and epistemological status of the category ‘men who have sex with men’.

2. Current Latin American discussion of this issue is elaborated in Cáceres, Pecheny and Terto (2002), Guajardo (2002) and Núñez (2007).

3. Sexual identity was not a selection criteria for informants. As part of the broader research project, interviewees contacted in relation to their MSM experience were sex workers and they are not included in this article.

4. These were local civil society organisations that promoted community health and/or provided health services to migrant communities. All of the organisations worked in the area of sexual and reproductive health and specifically HIV prevention.

5. Joto (fag) is one of the many terms in Mexican Spanish vernacular to describe someone whose appearance or behaviour can be identified as homosexual.

6. It was interviewers who brought up the term homosexuality in conversation and subsequently, interviewees sometimes used the term as well. When interviewees spoke spontaneously about homosexuality they usually used colloquial terms, common in Mexican slang, that refer to sex between men.

7. For an analysis of eroticism and sexuality in Mexico see Parrini (2007) for an in-depth look at the construction of a labyrinthine homoerotic social scene.

8. Kristeva (1989) extensively analyses abjection and its links to subjectivity. Butler (1990) specifically analyses abjection in relation to desire and sexual identities, particularly among gay men and lesbians.

9. For more on this aspect of Latin American sexual imaginary, see, among others: Carrillo (2002), Lancaster (1992), Núñez (2000, 2007), Parker (1999), Parrini (2007) and Prieur (1998).