Thinking Intersectionality: Sexualities and the Politics of Multiple Identities

Abstract

Sexuality studies have been moving toward a research program that emphasizes sexualities as part of the intersectional study of identity categories, such as race, class, and gender for over two decades now (Gamson and Moon, 2004; Taylor, 2007). On one hand, intersectional understandings of sexualities complicate and better capture individuals’ lived experiences. Yet, on the other hand, intersectionality points to a potentially endless process of multiplying identity categories indefinitely. Consequentially, intersectionality can end up recapitulating the same essentialist epistemology of experience framework that constitutes focusing on a single identity category (Clough, 1994; Seidman, 2007). To this end, I explore the benefits and limits of intersectionality for sexuality studies, highlighting my theoretical points with a US-based case study of racial heterosexual masculinities.