‘Dicks are for chicks’: Latino boys, masculinity, and the abjection of homosexuality

Abstract

Employing social constructivist theories and the concept of abjection from gender studies, this article examines how and why a group of low-income, USA-born Dominican and Puerto Rican middle-school boys constructed masculine identities by invoking and repudiating homosexuality. Ethnographic data from a 2.5-year study indicate that the abjection of homosexuality was a place of performativity wherein the boys utilised their bodies, cultural referents, and bilingualism to delineate masculinity, reiterate heteronormativity, and distance themselves from homosexuals, who they perceived as a threat to their sexuality, personal safety, and physical dominance. At school, the boys enacted a hypermasculine, heteronormative variant of their ethno-racial identities. As a result, their gender construction was heavily influenced by dominant gender practices present in their neighbourhoods and in segments of the broader US, Dominican, and Puerto Rican cultures. Together, these cultural influences shaped the gender regime within the boys' school peer group. This article concludes with a call for additional research examining the intersection of ethno-racial identity, sexuality, gender, and class.

Keywords:

• Latino boys
• heteronormativity
• masculinity
• homosexuality
• race and ethnicities

Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to William Julius Wilson, Ann Ferguson, Mariko Chang, Kathryn Edin, and Mary Christianakis for their support, guidance, and insightful comments. I thank the Gender and Education editors and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.