THE STATUS OF GAY ANTHROPOLOGISTS
Steven Weinstock
Temple U
The Report on the Minority Experience in Anthropology,
though an excellent document, unfortunately chose to define
"minority" in terms of ethnicity and thereby ignored the
problems of the most discriminated-agamst minority in the
discipline—homosexuals. Gay people are the largest minority
in the discipline—after women, another group ignored by the
Committee, but one whose problems have been taken up
elsewhere. The oppression of gay people within the profession
has been so severe that the only way in which a gay person
could maintain a position has been by keeping her or his
homosexuality secret. There are hundreds of anthropologists,
including some of the most illustrious, who face this plight at
tremendous personal and professional costs.
The personal predicaments faced by the "closeted" gay
anthropologist are the same as those faced by all covert
homosexuals. These basically center around the fear of
exposure. Nearly all gay academics fear non-renewal of
contract or denial of tenure if their homosexuality were to
become publicly known, even in the most liberal of colleges
and universities. One is thus forced to live a charade. Girl
friends or boy friends have to be invented or a puritanical air
of asexual ity be conveyed. One's lover becomes one's "roommate"
and is never brought to faculty affairs. Eventually one
stops going oneself because of the discomfort of being in social
situations geared exclusively for heterosexuality, and these
informal social gatherings are often important means of
professional advancement.....
VER ARTICULO COMPLETO
Anthropology NewsVolume 15, Issue 9, Article first published online: 30 MAY 2009
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