The Psychic Life of Racism in Gay Men's Communities

Reviews / Votes

Damien Riggs has assembled an international collection of exciting, new voices that reinvigorate discussions on racism in gay men's communities. Given the resurgence of populist nationalism across Western nations, this is a timely reminder of the difficulties many of us face at the intersections of race and sexuality. This rich book examines a range of racisms (Islamophobia, Orientalism, homonationalism, and sexual racism), revealing the interconnections and overlaps between interpersonal, local, communal, and national contexts and how these in turn shape different experiences of both homophobia and racism. Riggs has consistently pushed the boundaries of psychology and social work in conversation with critical race and sexuality studies. He has done it again with this book. -- Gilbert Caluya, University of Melbourne This accessibly written collection offers a necessary and timely account of gay white racism, with much needed attention to Islamophobia, homonationalism, and sexual racism in the digital age. The Psychic Life of Racism in Gay Men's Communities demonstrates the continued importance of contested libertarian accounts of racialized, sexual desire, showing unequivocally the lines between individual subjectivities and the power structures that shape them. This volume is both comprehensive and nuanced: in addition to acknowledging the continuities between racist apparatuses in general and in gay racism, in particular, it also attends to racism's specific articulations, enactments, and effects on diverse gay men's communities, including resistance to and even appropriations of racism. This book's political commitment is unflinching. -- Ian Barnard, Chapman University, and author of Queer Race: Cultural Interventions in the Racial Politics of Queer Theory