Profiles, Compulsory Disclosure and Ethical Sexual Citizenship in the Contemporary USA

Almost thirty years after AIDS was first recognized in the USA, behaviorally bisexual men of color who do not identify as gay are portrayed as deviant but redeemable through the disclosure of their sexual behaviors. The rhetoric of coming out, and the perceptions of internalized homophobia linked to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sexualities 2008-08, Vol.11 (4), p.397-413
Main Author: Decena, Carlos Ulises
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
AIDS
Bisexuality
Citizenship
Deviance
Disclosure
Ethics
Ethnicity
Gays & lesbians
Heterosexuality
Homophobia
Homosexuality
Males
Men
Morbidity
Mortality
Neoliberalism
Researchers
Rhetoric
Self Disclosure
Sexual Behavior
Survey data
Transparency
U.S.A
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Summary:Almost thirty years after AIDS was first recognized in the USA, behaviorally bisexual men of color who do not identify as gay are portrayed as deviant but redeemable through the disclosure of their sexual behaviors. The rhetoric of coming out, and the perceptions of internalized homophobia linked to those who do not, are mobilized to produce an ethical sexual citizen, not a gay man. The author analyzes results reported in a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that coincided with media attention given to men `on the down low'. He demonstrates that the data the researchers present tell a much more complex story than the analysis and commentary that the researchers provide. The author suggests that this MMWR is symptomatic of a regime of compulsory disclosure in the USA where identities, practices, and desires are emerging as alternatives to normative heterosexuality and homosexuality.
ISSN:1363-4607
1461-7382
DOI:10.1177/1363460708091741