Sex/uality Artifacts

Hello everyone, my name is Nichole Davenport. Today in class on December 1, 2015, I presented my first artifact regarding interracial intimacy and marriages. From last week’s readings, we were required to read the article entitled “Visibility as Privilege and Danger: Heterosexual and Same-Sex Interracial Intimacy” written by Amy C. Steinbugler. I felt that this article was very interesting and made very valid points. The article differentiates how respect and acceptance is demonstrated between different sexuality identities and preferences. Gayle Rubin wrote the pivotal essay entitled “Thinking Sex” in 1984, where she argues that sexuality is organized into systems of power: rewarding individuals and activities while suppressing others. This is referred to as a “sex hierarchy”. Rubin stated that “good, normal, and natural” sexuality is heterosexual, monogamous, same-generation, procreative, vanilla, which refers to “non-kinky” sex, and also in private. Basically, this version of what “good” sexuality looks like is based around societal norms. “Bad, abnormal, and damned” sexuality, however, is homosexual, unmarried, promiscuous, non-procreative, casual, cross-generational, or sadomasochistic sex. Rubin also explains that “good” sexuality receives respect, mobility, and legality while as “bad” sexuality receives dis-reputability, restricted mobility, and criminality. In this article, Rubin also introduces the concept of interracial sexuality and how it is looked over in research. In the United States, interracial sexual relations is not only frowned upon, but is also strongly discouraged as it is perceived to be “wrong” or as “betrayal” to the family. This is especially true for interracial relations between African-Americans and Whites, who have actually been restricted and criminalized for such relations. Mono-racial and heterosexuality, however, is legally, politically, and socially sanctioned. While researching more on this topic and why it is so much worse for African-American and White interracial couples compared to other races, I came across a video clip of an interview on the Bethenny Show with Tamera Mowry-Housley, who is a famous actress and has her own reality show with her twin sister. Tamera explains in the video that she is biracial or “mixed”, with her father being White and her mother Black, and that she herself is in an interracial marriage, with her husband being White as well. Tamera discusses her feelings about this aspect in her life and how her and her husband receive a lot of negative comments and looks because of their interracial marriage. She consistently expresses her opinion, stating “Who cares?!” regarding her social and personal life. She was receiving nasty Tweets on social media site Twitter, with individuals giving her grief about supposedly not having Black friends, and that all her friends are White. Not only was this assumption false, as Tamera pointed out, but also ties into the article written  by Steinbugler. Tamera and her husband’s interracial marriage is being looked at as “bad” sexuality, as it doesn’t tie into societal norms. Although Tamera is seen as a celebrity, individuals are still uncomfortable with her interracial marriage and are not afraid to voice their opinions about it. As Rubin indicated, interracial sexual relations have been restricted and criminalized, specifically between African-Americans and Whites. Respect and acceptance for interracial marriages and relations is still an issue in the United States, and needs to be addressed.

To find the link to this interview:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-SJYYaaLgE

To find the article by Amy C. Steinbugler: Files–interracial intimacy.pdf (Retrieved on November 24, 2015)