Sexuality, Migration, and Tourism in the 20th Century U.S.‐Mexico Borderlands

Abstract

The United States-Mexico border is a site in which ethnic and sexual boundaries are constructed and contested. Spatial mobility has profound effects on perceptions and expressions of sexuality. Recent scholarship on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands has illuminated the ways in which migration and tourism influence sexual identities, sexual behavior, and state efforts to monitor sexuality. Further research is essential to understanding these intercultural and cross-class interactions. Furthermore, this is a topic of study that would result in productive interdisciplinary collaboration.

Trajectories of Forced Migration: Central American Migrants on Their Way Toward the USA

“…In other possible reasons, there are substantial ingredients of violence (domestic violence, persecution/discrimination, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identification, and political engagements). But somewhat at odds with qualitative literature (Medrano 2013), sexuality or gender identification were mentioned by less than 10 percent of respondents as important, whereas religion and ethnicity were mentioned to a greater degree.…”