Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Reconciling Lgb And Christian Identities In The Rural South, Brandi Woodell, Emily Kazyak, D'Lane Compton
Reconciling Lgb And Christian Identities In The Rural South, Brandi Woodell, Emily Kazyak, D'Lane Compton
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Drawing on in-depth interviews with rural Christians living in the South who identify as lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB), this study analyzes how they negotiate their religious, geographic, and sexual identities. We find that most interviewees employed two strategies to reconcile their Christian and gay identities: emphasizing a personal connection to an accepting God and finding a local church in their rural community in which they felt accepted. We argue that rural contexts influenced interviewees’ reliance on these strategies and show how individuals can construct multiple interpretations about themselves, which do not always align with existing cultural assumptions. In addition, …
Review Of Just Queer Folks: Gender And Sexuality In Rural America By Colin R. Johnson, Emily Kazyak
Review Of Just Queer Folks: Gender And Sexuality In Rural America By Colin R. Johnson, Emily Kazyak
Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications
Colin Johnson’s book Just Queer Folks provides a powerful corrective to the faulty assumption that gender and sexual nonnormativity and rurality are incompatible. As a historian, Johnson focuses on both the discourses about sexuality emerging and the wide array of sexual practices occurring in the first half of the twentieth century in rural America. He analyzes a wide range of sources to make two central points: first, that heterosexuality and heteronormativity are not “indigenous to rural areas,” but were constructed there (p. 18); second, that same-sex sexual behavior and gender nonconformity were commonplace in rural America in early twentieth century. …