How Places Shape Identity: The Origins of Distinctive LBQ Identities in Four Small U.S. Cities 1

Tools from the study of neighborhood effects, place distinction, and regional identity are employed in an ethnography of four small cities with growing populations of lesbian, bisexual, and queer-identified (LBQ) women to explain why orientations to sexual identity are relatively constant within eac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of sociology 2015-07, Vol.121 (1), p.1-63
Main Author: Brown-Saracino, Japonica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cities
Cultural identity
Gender identity
Group identity
Lesbianism
Narratives
Political identity
Queer culture
Regional identity
Urban identity
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Summary:Tools from the study of neighborhood effects, place distinction, and regional identity are employed in an ethnography of four small cities with growing populations of lesbian, bisexual, and queer-identified (LBQ) women to explain why orientations to sexual identity are relatively constant within each site, despite informants’ within-city demographic heterogeneity, but vary substantially across the sites, despite common place-based attributes. The author introduces the concept of “sexual identity cultures”—and reveals the defining role of cities in shaping their contours. She finds that LBQ numbers and acceptance, place narratives, and newcomers’ encounters with local social attributes serve as touchstones. The article looks beyond major categorical differences (e.g., urban/rural) to understand how and why identities evolve and vary and to reveal the fundamental interplay of demographic, cultural, and other city features previously thought isolatable. The findings challenge notions of identity as fixed and emphasize the degree to which self-understanding and group understanding remain collective accomplishments.
ISSN:0002-9602
1537-5390
DOI:10.1086/682066