Creating Fugitive Knowledge through Disorienting Dilemmas: The Issue of Bottom Identity Development

Abstract

Despite sexuality being a powerful source of emotional and physical experiences and learning, it remains underexplored as an area of interest and investigation in adult education and human resource development (HRD). Most work on sexuality in adult education and HRD has focused on learning, work experiences, discrimination, acceptance, and health and wellness for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Notably, there is a need for conversations about sexuality that move beyond our most basic understandings of orientations (such as heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual) or temperaments (such as conservative/traditional or progressive/nontraditional). One particularly interesting place to begin new conversations is by examining subidentity groups, such as gay men who identify as bottoms (generally prefer receptive roles during anal and/or oral intercourse) because these men are likely to experience stigma related to the constraints of both heteronormative, homonormative, and gendered ideals. The purpose of this article is to explore how the fields of adult education and HRD might come to understand bottom identity development and how some gay men cultivate, construct, perform, and embody bottom identities in a variety of contexts.