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Activo/Pasivo and Gay Mexican Male Homosexualities: A Social Class Analysis
Unformatted Document Text:  Activo/Pasivo and Gay Mexican Male Homosexualities: A Social Class Analysis James Thing University of Southern California Abstract: In this paper I move towards offering a social class i analysis of the construction of Mexican and Mexican American male homosexualities. Drawing from my own qualitative research on a multi-classed population of homosexual Mexican and Mexican immigrant men, I argue that, in Mexico, within middle-class communities the activo/pasivo model, which appears to have dominated at one time, has increasingly been replaced by an object-choice or gay model of homosexuality. Similarly, I argue that in Mexico within poor or working class communities, the activo/pasivo form continues to dominate. By focusing on impact of social class on homosexuality throughout this paper, I contribute to the empirical study of Mexican homosexuality which has nodded towards the importance of such an analysis, but which, to date, has not provided a thorough examination of the relationship. Introduction Scurrying back and fourth excitedly between a bedroom and the living room in the modest apartment of “Carla,” a gay immigrant Mexican man living in Huntington Park, were colorful, scantily dressed vestidas preparing for the entertainment extravaganza. With the DJ pumping sounds of a mix of Spanish rock, pop and love ballads of old into the outside courtyard, and the smell of hot tamales, mole and tortillas filling the apartment, the guests awaited the show in anticipation. It was Carla’s birthday bash. The party-goers made up a motley group – young children, seniors, and all ages in between, men and women, straights and gays, couples and singles, (mostly) Latino immigrants and (a few) native born Mexican Americans. The music came to a halt and Carla emerged from the apartment swishing back and fourth as he walked towards the microphone. He graciously thanked everyone for celebrating his birthday with him and without much ado quickly announced the first performance. With bubbling breasts protruding, halfway exposed, and a tight micro-mini, the first “girl” pranced toward the stage and began lip-

Authors: Thing, James.
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Activo/Pasivo and Gay
Mexican Male Homosexualities:
A Social Class Analysis
James Thing
University of Southern California
Abstract: In this paper I move towards offering a social class
i
analysis of the
construction of Mexican and Mexican American male homosexualities. Drawing from
my own qualitative research on a multi-classed population of homosexual Mexican and
Mexican immigrant men, I argue that, in Mexico, within middle-class communities the
activo/pasivo model, which appears to have dominated at one time, has increasingly been
replaced by an object-choice or gay model of homosexuality. Similarly, I argue that in
Mexico within poor or working class communities, the activo/pasivo form continues to
dominate. By focusing on impact of social class on homosexuality throughout this
paper, I contribute to the empirical study of Mexican homosexuality which has nodded
towards the importance of such an analysis, but which, to date, has not provided a
thorough examination of the relationship.

Introduction
Scurrying back and fourth excitedly between a bedroom and the living room in the
modest apartment of “Carla,” a gay immigrant Mexican man living in Huntington Park,
were colorful, scantily dressed vestidas preparing for the entertainment extravaganza.
With the DJ pumping sounds of a mix of Spanish rock, pop and love ballads of old into
the outside courtyard, and the smell of hot tamales, mole and tortillas filling the
apartment, the guests awaited the show in anticipation. It was Carla’s birthday bash. The
party-goers made up a motley group – young children, seniors, and all ages in between,
men and women, straights and gays, couples and singles, (mostly) Latino immigrants and
(a few) native born Mexican Americans. The music came to a halt and Carla emerged
from the apartment swishing back and fourth as he walked towards the microphone. He
graciously thanked everyone for celebrating his birthday with him and without much ado
quickly announced the first performance. With bubbling breasts protruding, halfway
exposed, and a tight micro-mini, the first “girl” pranced toward the stage and began lip-


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