Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe
European nation states increasingly hail LGBT identities as part of modern values; LGBT recognitions have become a symbol of secular achievements. Discourses around gay rights and sexual diversity are increasingly pitted against presumably homophobic and intolerant ‘others’. An increased intolerant...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/6 |
| _version_ | 1797490821938806784 |
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| author | Martina Klett-Davies |
| author_facet | Martina Klett-Davies |
| author_sort | Martina Klett-Davies |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | European nation states increasingly hail LGBT identities as part of modern values; LGBT recognitions have become a symbol of secular achievements. Discourses around gay rights and sexual diversity are increasingly pitted against presumably homophobic and intolerant ‘others’. An increased intolerant and repressive attitude towards migrants and racialised minorities is justified by their supposed threat to exactly these values. LGBT tolerance is used as a marker for modern values and this positions LGBT people as ‘border patrollers’ who can count as part of the modern liberal nation. This paper analyses 92 interviews with LGBT participants who live in six small and medium sized ordinary cities in Europe. It discusses how their fear of homophobia is evaluated according to perceived sexual norms and attitudes at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods are considered either LGBT friendly or unfriendly according to their socio-demographic characteristics that focus on social class and/or migration and that intersects with race, ethnicity and religion. Based on the findings, neighbourhoods are both a geographical and a cultural terrain that can be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes that discipline and produce the confines of the normative, the ‘modern’ and the ‘backward’. Not only are LGBT people positioned as border patrollers but they express their fear of homophobia also through bordering. The neighbourhood can then be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:38:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a3b371eb4d2d488f9cbfbc36c277c82e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:38:33Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-a3b371eb4d2d488f9cbfbc36c277c82e2023-11-23T15:13:06ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442021-12-01131610.3390/rel13010006Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in EuropeMartina Klett-Davies0King’s Foundations, King’s College London, London WC2B 4BG, UKEuropean nation states increasingly hail LGBT identities as part of modern values; LGBT recognitions have become a symbol of secular achievements. Discourses around gay rights and sexual diversity are increasingly pitted against presumably homophobic and intolerant ‘others’. An increased intolerant and repressive attitude towards migrants and racialised minorities is justified by their supposed threat to exactly these values. LGBT tolerance is used as a marker for modern values and this positions LGBT people as ‘border patrollers’ who can count as part of the modern liberal nation. This paper analyses 92 interviews with LGBT participants who live in six small and medium sized ordinary cities in Europe. It discusses how their fear of homophobia is evaluated according to perceived sexual norms and attitudes at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods are considered either LGBT friendly or unfriendly according to their socio-demographic characteristics that focus on social class and/or migration and that intersects with race, ethnicity and religion. Based on the findings, neighbourhoods are both a geographical and a cultural terrain that can be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes that discipline and produce the confines of the normative, the ‘modern’ and the ‘backward’. Not only are LGBT people positioned as border patrollers but they express their fear of homophobia also through bordering. The neighbourhood can then be understood, organised and contested through a sexuality discourse in the production of border regimes.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/6sexual geographyLGBTneighbourhoodsordinary citieshomophobiasocial class |
| spellingShingle | Martina Klett-Davies Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe Religions sexual geography LGBT neighbourhoods ordinary cities homophobia social class |
| title | Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe |
| title_full | Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe |
| title_fullStr | Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe |
| title_short | Border Regimes: Homophobia and LGBT Place Making in Six Ordinary Cities in Europe |
| title_sort | border regimes homophobia and lgbt place making in six ordinary cities in europe |
| topic | sexual geography LGBT neighbourhoods ordinary cities homophobia social class |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/13/1/6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT martinaklettdavies borderregimeshomophobiaandlgbtplacemakinginsixordinarycitiesineurope |