Latina/o Sexualities

Probing Powers, Passions, Practices, and Policies

Edited by Marysol Asencio

Rutgers University Press

Latina/os are currently the largest minority population in the United States. They are also one of the fastest growing. Yet, we have very limited research and understanding of their sexualities. Instead, stereotypical images flourish even though scholars have challenged the validity and narrowness of these images and the lack of attention to the larger social context. Gathering the latest empirical work in the social and behavioral sciences, this reader offers us a critical lens through which to understand these images and the social context framing Latina/os and their sexualities.

Situated at the juncture of Latina/o studies and sexualities studies, Latina/o Sexualities provides a single resource that addresses the current state of knowledge from a multidisciplinary perspective. Contributors synthesize and critique the literature and carve a separate space where issues of Latina/o sexualities can be explored given the limitations of prevalent research models. This work compels the current wave in sexuality studies to be more inclusive of ethnic minorities and sets an agenda that policy makers and researchers will find invaluable.

'Latina/o Sexualities is a brilliant collection that provides groundbreaking analyses of the myriad connections between sexuality and race.' Maxine Baca Zinn, Michigan State University

Filled with provocative arguments and illuminating insights, Latina/o Sexualities marks a new and exciting epoch in the study of human sexuality and its interactions with race and class; a must-read for scholars and students of ethnic studies and human sexuality. Rafael Díaz, Cesar E. Chavez Institute, San Francisco State University

A pathbreaking contribution and the definite resource for interdisciplinary scholars in the growing field of Latino sexualities. A highly sophisticated intervention that fills the existing void of empirical research in this area, while drawing from and critically engaging with the social and behavioral science literature. This volume will forever challenge us to rethink the categories, methods and approaches scholars use in this rapidly developing field of study. Arlene Dávila, author of Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race

Two groundbreaking, indispensable guides for serious scholars of sexualities who wish to understand both the heterogeneous sexualities of African Americans and Latinos as well as how greater attention to race, ethnicity, class and culture provides important new directions for the field. Patricia Hill Collins, author of Black Sexual Politics

Marysol Asencio is an associate professor of Puerto Rican and Latinostudies and human development and family studies at the University of Connecticut. She is author of Sex and Sexuality among New York's Puerto Rican Youth.

Introduction, by Marysol Asencio and Katie Acosta
A History of Latina/o Sexualities, by Ramón A. Gutiérrez
Making Sex Matter, by Pablo Mitchell
Latina/o Childhood Sexuality, by Sonya Grant Arreola
Latina/o Parent-Adolescent Communication about Sexuality, by Laura F. Romo, Erum Nadeem, and Claudia Kouyoumdjian
Sexual Health of Latina/o Populations in the United States, by Sandra Arévalo, Mariana Gerena, and Hortensia Amaro
Latina/o Sex Policy, by Elena R. Gutiérrez
Heterosexuality Exposed, by Gloria González-López
Representations of Latina/o Sexuality in Popular Culture, by Deborah R. Vargas
Cultural Production of Knowledge on Latina/o Sexualities, by José Quiroga and Melanie López Frank
Where There's Querer, by George Ayala, Jaime Cortez,and Patrick "Pato" Hebert
Religion/Spirituality, U.S. Latina/o Communities, and Sexuality Scholarship, by Salvador Vidal-Ortiz
Latina/o Sexualities in Motion, by Susana Peña
Latinas, Sex Work, and Trafficking in the United States, by Amalia L. Cabezas, Dolores Ortiz, and Sonia Valencia
Latina Lesbians, BiMujeres, and Trans Identities, by Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel
Latina/o Transpopulations, by Marcia Ochoa
Boundaries and Bisexuality, by Miguel Munoz-Laboy and Carmen Yon
Revisiting Activos and Pasivos, by Salvador Vidal-Ortiz, Carlos Decena, Héctor Carrillo, and Tomás Almaguer
Retiring Behavioral Risk, Disease, and Deficit Models in Favor of SexualHealth Frameworks for Latino Gay Men and Other Men Who Enjoy Sex with Men, by George Ayala
Epilogue, by Carlos Decena

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