Sexual Norms Research Articles

Gentleman Jack queers popular imagination

The BBC One/HBO series Gentleman Jack (2019–present) introduced the historical figure Anne Lister (1791–1840) to popular culture. An English landowning woman, Lister, left a diary of 5 million words (much of it in a secret code) that details her sexual life with other women and a secret marriage to one of them. She was a remarkable woman for many reasons, not the least of which was Lister’s ability to live in a ‘respectable’ society at the same time that she flouted gender and sexual norms. The story of how and why it took so long, and the efforts it took, to bring her story to popular culture through television – along with the resonance the series has had on lesbian and gender nonconforming people all over the world – is integral to understanding the impact of Lister’s life and complex identity on queer histories and cultures. Accordingly, this article maps the substance of the series, the circumstances of its coming into being and the fan response to provide some sense of the significance of Anne Lister and the fact that her life was hidden in plain sight for almost 200 years.

Theoretical Reproductive Outcomes of the Sexual Conflict in Humans.

This paper presents an updated mathematical model of the evolutionary dynamics of the sexual conflict ("battle of the sexes") and its simulated reproductive outcomes. The authors highlight a whole range of life-history traits unique to our species, such as prolonged childhood, growth in parental care, etc. Based on these biosocial premises, the sexual conflict between men and women shifts into the mathematical realm of the "Prisoner's Dilemma" game. The evolutionarily stable strategy of mutual rejection of parenthood would be dominant with this PD strategy in both parents; oscillation dynamics predicted in previous models would not be expected. Despite fatal theoretical prediction of the PD evolutionary game, the newish genetic data of the EPP rates in the historical populations reveals prevalence of cooperation between both sexes, predominantly utilizing the monogamous form of sexuality. Presumably, this sexual norm could have potentially ensured reproductive success in the societies in the past.

Sexual Violence and the Role of Public Conversations in Japan: A Closer Look at the "Bakky Case"

While the #MeToo movement has led to successful campaigns against sexual harassment in many parts of the world, results have been mixed in Japan. In spite of the fact that #MeToo has inspired a number of offshoot campaigns, many victims of sexual abuse remain silent. Greater attention needs to be directed at the reasons for this reluctance to pursue justice. One factor that requires greater scrutiny is the role of public conversations; that is, widely reported comments from prominent members of society which generate some level of discussion and which exercise some influence over people’s way of thinking on particular topics. If public conversations denigrate women by labeling them as sexually promiscuous or as failures in terms of normative motherhood, the result may be increased violence against women and greater difficulty for women who seek justice in the aftermath of sexual violence. This argument is developed in this article which explores the ways in which a set of public conversations during the 1990’s and early 2000’s may have helped to incite extreme reactions of sexual abuse by stigmatizing certain young women both in terms of masculinist norms of sexuality and of female reproduction. Through engagement with relevant texts and member-checking with gender activists, the author found that the failure to learn lessons from a case of pornography-related sexual violence in the early 2000’s (referred to as the “Bakky case”) means that women remain vulnerable, especially if they are stigmatized for “failing in their duty” to bear children. Prominent figures in society must refrain from initiating public conversations that can lead to the stigmatization of women who challenge traditional gender norms. This study is made so that concerned citizens in Japan today, and readers everywhere, can more strongly justify their insistence on public conversations that reflect principles of gender equality and respect.

‘She’s a real expat’: be(com)ing a woman expatriate in Luxembourg through everyday performances of heteronormativity

This paper provides an ethnographical account of everyday practices of how expatriate women in the Global North adjust and negotiate their gender position to become part of a transnational elite. Drawing on feminist scholarship, it makes the case for a comprehensive understanding of the production of expatriate wives’ gendered subjectivities in relation to the neoliberal doxa of success associated with transnational mobility. Through an intersectional analysis that places the body as the main scale of analysis, this paper sheds light on the role of hegemonic sexual norms in the context of family migration in Luxembourg. The results reveal the spatial dimension of heteronormativity in the shaping of expatriate subjectivities. They also give insights into how these women access the world of global privileges while supporting the social reproduction of their expatriate family and contributing to the reconfiguration and reproduction of exclusionary power relations. In so doing, this paper argues for the use of heteronormativity as a useful – although underused – analytical framework to understand further the power dynamics that shape transnational experiences, spaces and subjectivities in the context of neoliberal globalisation.

Sex Education on TikTok: A Content Analysis of Themes.

Leading medical and public health societies endorse comprehensive sex education, but only 20 states and Washington, D.C., currently require information about contraception when sex education is taught, and even fewer require the inclusion of topics such as gender diversity or consent. At the same time, social media use, especially the video-sharing app TikTok, is increasing among teens. TikTok, therefore, offers a novel opportunity to make up for shortcomings in sex education and convey sexual health information to adolescents. To describe the availability and content of sexual education on TikTok, we conducted a content analysis of themes for 100 sex education-focused videos. We found that female anatomy was the most frequently addressed topic. Sexual pleasure was the second most common theme, within which discussions of the female orgasm and arousal constituted the most common subtheme. Other common themes include contraception and sexual health. These sought-after topics may be incongruent with those presented in standard school- or home-based sex education or interactions with health care providers, and this disconnect suggests opportunities for health care providers and educators to initiate conversations or offer resources on these themes as part of routine interaction. We conclude with recommendations for future research to consider the factual accuracy of sex education on TikTok and determine how exposure to this content affects adolescents' understanding of the risks and benefits of intercourse, sexual practices, age- and gender-based sexual norms, and other health behaviors.

Dr Ambedkar and the ‘Prostitute’: Caste, Sexuality and Humanity in Modern India

ABSTRACTDalits’ (Untouchables) most democratic and productive politics relentlessly returns to questions of caste violence, sociality, sexuality and ‘inclusion/exclusion’ in the larger Indian body politic, thus producing a new matrix and mode of power within the category of the human itself. This article analyses the intellectual and anti‐caste leader Dr B. R. Ambedkar's (1891–1956) multi‐pronged – social, cultural and political – strategies of creating manuski (human dignity), dharmantar (religious conversion) and respectable samaj (community) in a doubly colonial – British and brahmanical – context. It offers the first analysis of Ambedkar's hitherto under‐examined speech of 16 June 1936 and other fragmentary evidence in Marathi by focusing on the changing contexts, complex conjunctures of socio‐sexual and material forces and political transformations that Dalit women engaged with to carve out their womanhood and humanity. The article examines the unmitigated contingencies of particular interlocked social, political, cultural, economic, emotional and moral battles of constituting a new political Dalit. It illuminates the ways the most stigmatised, ‘immoral,’ ‘corrupt’ and multi‐dimensional ‘prostitute’ emerged as a conceptual and categorical limit and embarrassment to Ambedkar's strategies of building Dalit power. The article's focus shifts away from imperial and European contexts and discourses to write histories of caste, gender and colonial sexuality from the vantage point of local Dalit women. This approach highlights the importance of writing histories of transnational and multilingual epistemologies that reorganize social and sexual norms in colonial and postcolonial societies.

Can We Approach the Subject of Child Sexual Abuse Ethically in Academia? Towards a Queer Ethics of CSA Analysis

This article is dedicated to the question of ethics. It addresses the ethical issues that arise when making the painful subject of CSA the central focus of an academic inquiry. The first section considers the failures of certain subsections of twentieth-century American and Western European critical theory in approaching the study of CSA with ethical integrity. The disciplines of queer theory, feminist theory and sex-radical literature are focused on in particular in order to question and contextualize why academic endorsement of CSA acts has occurred. The article both considers and questions the rigid concepts of sexual normativity that both demonizes queer sex and leaves queer children vulnerable to abuse. In the second section, the pressure for personal confession of trauma when writing and researching on this issue is considered, and the fixed character of the survivor is examined.

Seduction, Aggression, and Frenchness in LA VIE PARISIENNE (1914–1918)

The article retraces how the notion of cultural singularity in sexuality was constructed and weaponized in the most popular French illustrated periodical of the First World War. It argues that La Vie Parisienne’s sublimation of romantic love, sex, and Frenchness worked as a cultural tactic that, while helping the readership cope with a devastating historical disruption, undermined at the same time claims for social change. The close analysis of works by illustrator Chéri Hérouard uncovers how nationalism and anxieties of sexual dispossession contributed to integrate a fraught notion of women’s sexual consent to a broader claim of cultural superiority. This article provides a critical approach to popular and visual representations of heterosexual and non-conjugal norms of desire, seduction, and sexuality in wartime France. It also offers a historical example of how the racialization and nationalisation of gender relations, discussed as ‘Gallic singularity’ in recent scholarship, trivialises masculine aggression and produces the ambivalence long associated with the notion of women’s sexual consent in France.

Motion Pictures and the Decline of Cultural Values among Nigerian Youths

Cultural sustainability, which is a part of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, highlights the imperativeness of intergenerational continuity of cultural heritage, beliefs, and practices among different peoples of the world. It is in this light that our qualitative study examines the impacts on cultural values in Nigeria by both indigenous and foreign motion pictures, and the possible implications for the practice of social work. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design to source data from 48 youths by means of in-depth interviews. The data were analysed thematically in line with a phenomenological research design. The findings showed that indigenous cultural values (language, dress styles, sexual norms, etc.) are threatened, and a preference for Western motion pictures was implicated. However, the participants equally mentioned positive events characterising Western motion pictures, which they recommended that indigenous motion pictures should imbibe. Growing and developing the overall quality of the contents of indigenous motion pictures through enhanced viewers’ preference were discussed to have social and economic values which social workers could help harness.

A Phenomenological Study of Sexuality among the People of Tutu Akuapem-Ghana: Implications for Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE)

Issues about human sexuality have generated serious discussion in both public and academic discourses. In Ghana, the recent frightening figures of teenage pregnancy and diverse reactions to homosexuality, gay, bisexual, and transgender in news outlets have heightened the exigency of sexuality deliberations among religious, political, human rights activists, and social commentators. Amid the controversies and difficulties surrounding sexuality matters, the question is how do Africans maintain their ‘Africanness’ in search of expanded understandings and pedagogies of sexuality? Which indigenous conventions and rites must be interrogated to have the 21stcentury African child well informed and equipped to deal with his/ her sexuality? Using the phenomenological approach, the researchers sought to examine indigenous sexuality rites and norms of the people of Tutu Akuapem Community in the Eastern region of Ghana, focusing on puberty and marriage rites of passage. The study argues for a carefully thought-out compromise between custodians of indigenous values of sexuality and modern theorists and activists for new(er) ways of conceiving, expressing, and teaching sexuality. It recommends that the content of the newly designed curriculum of sexuality education in our schools must be adapted to reflect African worldviews, values, and customs of sexuality. Keywords: Sexuality, Gender, Phenomenology, Comprehensive Sex Education, Rite of passage

Making Space for Women’s Sexual Selves in Olive Schreiner’s From Man to Man

In this article I argue that Olive Schreiner’s novel From Man to Man or Perhaps Only– (1926) explores the female subject’s relationship to sexuality in late nineteenth-century colonial South Africa in spatial terms. Reading the novel through Sara Ahmed’s (2006) idea of “queer phenomenology” and the concepts of “bodily horizon,” “extension,” and “orientation,” I claim that it is in the interaction of body and space that the potential lies for both oppression and resistance in relation to sexual and racial norms in the novel. The analysis focuses on how the main characters, Rebekah and Bertie, respond to restrictive sociosexual norms through their orientation in space. The article further considers how Rebekah and Bertie attempt to manage their troubled relation to colonial domesticity, and ultimately transform it, through their relationships with the servants Dorcas and Clartje and with Rebekah's adopted daughter Sartje; the former of which are ultimately imbued with notions of sexualised invasion. This article reveals how the spatial and embodied practices of the main characters are essential in negotiating their sexual positions in late nineteenth-century South African society.

Sexual wellbeing in early adolescence: a cross-sectional assessment among girls and boys in urban Indonesia

BackgroundEarly adolescence (ages 10–14) is a critical period of physical, cognitive, social and emotional development, which affect sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Yet, little is known about positive or healthy aspects of sexuality development during this period of life, especially in South East Asia where sexual norms remain restrictive. The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence and correlates of sexual wellbeing among early adolescent girls and boys ages 10–14 years in Indonesia.MethodsData for this cross-sectional study were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study via a school-based survey in three Indonesian urban sites in 2018 (N = 4309). We assessed the prevalence of multiple indicators of sexual wellbeing (e.g. SRHR knowledge and communication, gender attitudes, body satisfaction, self-efficacy, freedom from violence) and tested for differences by sex using Chi-square, Student t-test, and Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the adjusted odds ratio of selected indicators in relation to sociodemographic factors, romantic relationship status, and sexual activities.ResultsThe mean age of students was 12 years (53% girls); 90% had started puberty. SRHR knowledge and communication was low overall, but higher among boys than girls. Boys were more likely than girls to report high body satisfaction, less feelings of guilt in relation to sexuality, but also to have experienced physical peer violence. In contrast, girls were more likely to hold gender equal attitudes, greater perceived self-efficacy to say ‘no’, and to report being bullied by boys. In multivariable models, romantic relationship experiences, perceived voice (boys and girls) and decision-making (girls) were associated with three or more indicators of sexual wellbeing.ConclusionsWhile young adolescents in Indonesia score high on some aspects of sexual wellbeing, misconceptions, feelings of guilt and uncertainties related to sexuality are common, with clear gender differences. These findings confirm the need for comprehensive sexuality education that begins early in adolescence.

Male and Female Conceptualizations of Sexual Harassment in Tanzania: The Role of Consent, Male Power, and Social Norms.

Sexual harassment is pervasive worldwide, yet there is a lack of clarity on its conceptualization in many settings, especially in low-income countries. Context-specific conceptualization of sexual harassment is vital to develop effective measurement tools, estimate its magnitude, and the design of interventions to address it. We explored how different population groups in Mwanza, Tanzania, understood, conceptualized, and experienced sexual harassment. This study employed a qualitative research design involving 74 in-depth interviews and 13 focus group discussions with participants from educational, workplace, and public settings in Mwanza, Tanzania. Participants were adolescent girls and boys, adult women and men. We explored individual-level perceptions and experiences of sexual harassment, and community norms and expectations around sexual harassment. We analyzed the data using a thematic approach. Participants' perceptions of sexual harassment emphasized the critical role of consent, the expression of male power, and social norms with regard to sexual harassment. Sexual harassment was understood to be a result of men being in positions of power and in charge of material resources, school grades, or employment opportunities. These in turn enabled them to take advantage of girls and women. Social norms around male and female interactions, courtship and seduction, expressions of sexual interest were crucial in delineating what was and what was not considered sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is a fluid concept, and its definition is highly dependent on contextual factors. Consent underpins the conceptualization of sexual harassment and is a fundamental feature in the definition and measurement of sexual harassment in Tanzania. Consent is largely determined by sexual norms around male and female interactions and gendered power. There is a need for consensus in schools, workplaces, and communities about what constitutes sexual harassment in order to measure and address it appropriately.

Cognitive Outcomes Among Patients with Hematological Cancer with Access to Computerized Cognitive Training: Results from a Feasibility Study

Objective: Cancer-related cognitive impairment can affect patients after treatment of hematological cancers, but evidence of the effect of cognitive training interventions in this population is limited. The objective of this study was to explore cognitive outcomes among a sample of patients with hematological cancer who were given access to an online computerized cognitive training program after treatment completion.Methods: Patients who had completed primary treatment for lymphoma, or autologous stem cell transplant for either lymphoma or multiple myeloma were recruited to test the feasibility of an 8-week computerized cognitive training intervention. All participants were assigned to receive the intervention, which was self-administered by participants at home and consisted of online brain training exercises designed to enhance information processing abilities. As part of the study, cognitive outcomes were assessed before (T1) and after (T2) the 8-week intervention, comprised of a standardized battery of neuropsychological tests, a self-report questionnaire of cognitive symptoms, and a functional assessment of medication management ability. Raw scores on neuropsychological tests were converted to T-scores based on demographically-adjusted norms (for age, sex, and education, where applicable), which were used for analysis. Composite T-scores representing performance in four cognitive domains (learning efficiency/memory, information processing speed/psychomotor efficiency, working memory, executive functioning) were computed at each time point. Wilcoxon's sum rank test was used to assess the differences in outcomes at times 1 and 2.Results: 14 patients (12 lymphoma, 2 multiple myeloma) completed cognitive measures at T1 and T2. Participants were a median 48.5 years of age (range 24-70) and a median 53.5 days from treatment completion (range 28 - 490). At baseline, 7 participants met the criteria for overall cognitive impairment based on a Global Deficit Score (GDS) ≥0.5. After 8 weeks of access to the online computerized cognitive training program, there was a statistically significant improvement in the domains of information processing speed/psychomotor efficiency (MD = 4.18, std =4.55, p=0.0042) and working memory (MD = 2.09, std = 2.74, p=0.0127). Effect sizes (d) for changes in information speed/psychomotor efficiency and working memory were 0.92 and 0.76, respectively, suggesting large effects by Cohen's d classification. There was no sufficient evidence of a difference in learning efficiency/memory, executive functioning, cognitive symptoms or medication management ability.Conclusion: Cognitive functioning in the domains of information processing speed/psychomotor efficiency and working memory were improved over the course of participation in an online self-administered computerized cognitive training program in this small sample of participants treated for hematological cancers. Post-hoc analyses to explore dose-response and factors associated with training time are forthcoming. Adequately powered studies with the inclusion of a control condition are required to determine treatment efficacy in this growing group of cancer survivors. DisclosuresKuruvilla:BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy; Hoffman LaRoche: Consultancy; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Lundbeck: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Research Funding; Roche: Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding. Chen:Amgen: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding.

Miyazaki’s monstrous mother: a study of Yubaba in Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away

ABSTRACT Female antagonists in animation often fit within the universal archetype of the monstrous mother, yet there is little scholarly research examining her role in Japanese animation. This paper examines the role of Yubaba as an exemplary model of the monstrous mother in Studio Ghibli’s highly successful animated film Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi) to reveal the ways in which female antagonists are locally and globally constructed through the transgression of sex, gender and cultural norms. Through an application of Japanese psychoanalytic theory and Barbara Creed’s theory of the monstrous-feminine, this study finds that both universal and culturally specific sex-based stereotypes inform Japan’s depiction of monstrous mothers.

The Limits of Labelling: Incidental Sex Work Among Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Young Men on Social Media

IntroductionThe term incidental sex work refers to forms of casual, occasional, unsolicited commercial sex, arranged between gay, bisexual, and queer men on social media platforms such as Grindr. This paper explores the limits of labelling sexual identities, and how definitions of “sex” and “work” have become increasingly unstable in the digital age.MethodsThis study used mixed methods, with the primary mode of data collection being qualitative interviews with young gay, bisexual, and queer men conducted between May 2015 and April 2016. The interviews incorporated a nine-point sexuality scale and photo-elicitation procedures to prompt further discussions. Through the participant recruitment process, the study also generated an informal survey of 1473 Grindr users aged 18 to 28, finding that 14.6% had been paid for sex, most of whom (8.2%) had done so “incidentally.”ResultsThe 50 interview participants discussed being paid for sex 358 times. This paper focuses on their narratives of labelling, identity politics, sexual normativity, and social stigma. All participants distanced themselves from labels such as “prostitute,” “rent boy,” or “sex worker” given that their behaviours were not seen as “regular” or “professional” enough, alongside seeking to avoid association with stigmatising stereotypes of sex work. These results are compared with the participants’ experiences of coming out as gay, bisexual, and queer.DiscussionThese narratives are interpreted using queer theory to understand those whose behaviours and identities do not conform to normative (legal, medical, social) discourses of sex work. The implications of this hidden population for campaigners, policymakers, and healthcare practitioners are discussed, contributing to ongoing debates around harm reduction and social policy.

Safe Sexual Behavior Intentions among College Students: The Construction of an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior

Sexual health education is an essential part of quality-oriented education for college students. It aims to help these students to acquire knowledge of sexual physiology, sexual psychology, and sexual social norms that is consistent with the maturity of the students. Along with college students’attitudes toward sex, their perceptions regarding sexual behavior have also undergone profound changes. The importance of safe sexual behavior, sexual taboos, and sexual autonomy are gaining increasing attention as Chinese society is becoming more open. For college students who have just reached adulthood and have full autonomy of themselves, however, are they really going to have sexual behavior without careful consideration? Or is it something they have planned to do in the first place? To answer the above questions, this study was conducted to understand the relationship between college students’ attitudes toward sex, subjective norms, and behavioral control of their sexual behavior intentions by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior. In this study, 460 valid questionnaires were collected from Chinese college students and analyzed with partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). This study analyzes the relationship of multiple factors, including those influencing college students’ sexual behavior intentions. Meanwhile, it also compares the differences in factors affecting sexual behavior intentions between college students with or without sexual experience and those of different genders. Based on the results of the study, it was found that, first, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control of college students had a significant effect on safe sexual behavior intentions, while attitudes did not have a significant effect on safe sexual behavior intentions. Second, the gender and sexual experience of college students had a significant effect on safe sexual behavior intentions. Third, non-sexually experienced college students were more likely to be influenced by external factors. Relevant future research suggestions will be proposed based on the results of this study. Finally, this study helps to provide substantive suggestions for enhancing safe sexual behavior among college students in the context of universal higher education, as well as strengthening the self-protection of college students and providing practical advice for the development of sex education in China.

Sexual health norms and communication patterns within the close social networks of men who have sex with men and transgender women in Lima, Peru: a 2017 cross-sectional study

BackgroundSocial networks, norms, and discussions about sexual health may inform sexual practices, influencing risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sexually transmitted infection (STI) acquisition. To better understand social networks of Peruvian men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (trans women), we examined key social network members (SNMs), participant perceptions of these network members’ opinions toward sexual health behaviors, and associations between network member characteristics and condomless anal intercourse (CAI).MethodsIn a 2017 cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 565 MSM and trans women with HIV-negative or unknown serostatus was asked to identify three close SNMs; describe discussions about HIV and STI prevention with each; and report perceived opinions of condom use, HIV/STI testing, and partner notification of STIs. Generalized estimating equations evaluated relationships between SNM characteristics, opinions, and discussions and participant-reported CAI.ResultsAmong participants who identified as MSM, 42.3% of key SNMs were perceived to identify as gay. MSM “never” discussed HIV and STI prevention concerns with 42.4% of heterosexual SNMs, but discussed them “at least once weekly” with 16.9 and 16.6% of gay- and bisexual- identifying SNMs, respectively. Among participants who identified as trans women, 28.2% of key SNMs were perceived as heterosexual; 25.9%, as bisexual; 24.7%, as transgender; and 21.2%, as gay. Trans women discussed HIV/STI prevention least with cis-gender heterosexual network members (40.2% “never”) and most with transgender network members (27.1% “at least once weekly”). Participants perceived most of their close social network to be completely in favor of condom use (71.2% MSM SNMs, 61.5% trans women SNMs) and HIV/STI testing (73.1% MSM SNMs, 75.6% trans women SNMs), but described less support for partner STI notification (33.4% MSM SNMs, 37.4% trans women SNMs). Most participants reported CAI with at least one of their past three sexual partners (77.5% MSM, 62.8% trans women). SNM characteristics were not significantly associated with participant-reported frequency of CAI.ConclusionsFindings compare social support, perceived social norms, and discussion patterns of Peruvian MSM and trans women, offering insight into social contexts and sexual behaviors.Trial registrationThe parent study from which this analysis was derived was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03010020) on January 4, 2017.

Redemption Song

This article explores how Steve McQueen’s acclaimed 2020 pentalogy Small Axe (BBC) appears paradoxically to swerve away from Black British history in the very act of retrieving it. By examining key moments in Mangrove, Red, White and Blue, and Alex Wheatley, it argues that the constant tension between a push toward history and the pull of the aesthetic is the result of McQueen’s reformulation of “racial uplift” aesthetics that privileges exceptional acts over collective experience. Yet in striking contrast to his poetic license with history, McQueen presents Black masculinity and male self-expression within standard social and sexual norms. There are, however, more experimental, stylized moments in Small Axe where the historical and the aesthetic come together, notably in the highly physical dancing sequences of Lovers Rock. While not without limitations, such scenes reveal fresh, liberatory forms of Black space and time, and forge transformative and redemptive moments of Black reality.

Language in the middle: Class and sexuality on the Hinglish continuum

AbstractThis article draws from ethnographic research among youth in Delhi's expanding middle classes to call for more sociolinguistic attention to the role played by sexuality discourse in the reproduction of class relations. The discussion highlights the centrality of the middle classes to sustaining as well as shifting sexual normativity, suggesting that sexual norms are in part constituted through everyday discourses that situate middle class subjectivity between two class extremes. Specifically, the article tracks how Hinglish, as a mixed‐language alternative to a class system polarized by English and Hindi, came to rival English as the preferred language of sexuality, challenging the elite censorship of “vernacular” languages that began in nineteenth‐century colonialism. However, as demonstrated by two case studies of queer speakers at different ends of the Hinglish continuum, speakers of this internally diverse hybrid variety are not equally able to master the sexuality discourse that has become indexical of upward mobility.