Sexuality

Asian Americans

U.S. immigration and labor policies have had a strong effect on Asian American sexuality. Barred from the “masculine” occupations of the old West, Asian American men were often forced to engage in more “feminine” occupations such as cooks, domestic servants, or laundry workers. After the passage of the Page Act of 1875, which served to exclude Asian women from immigrating to the United States, Asian women in the United States were portrayed as being prostitutes who were different from the more virtuous White woman, leading to an overly sexualized view of Asian women. In addition, the exclusion of Asian women led to the formation of bachelor societies among Asian men.

This portrayal of the asexual or feminine Asian man continues to influence the sexual relations between Asian American men and women, with a larger percentage of Asian American women marrying White men than any other racial group other except White women.

African Americans

African American sexuality has also been heavily influenced by historic events, particularly the legacy [Page 1226]of slavery. Justifying slavery often resulted in treating Black men and women as little more than sexual livestock. Following emancipation, Black men were particularly sexualized as a menacing threat to White female virtue.

Denied the cultural markers of male “success” as defined by the European American standards of manhood as provider, protector, and disciplinarian, Black men sometimes engage in sexual promiscuity and violence to prove “manhood” in the areas of masculinity available to them. This hypermasculinization of Black men is further propagated by the media's unrelenting portrayal of Black men as being angry, violent, and criminal.

Much like Black men, Black women's sexuality has also been heavily influenced by the legacy of slavery. In a feeble attempt to justify the raping of Black female slaves, White slaver owners often pointed to their perceived notion of uncontrollable Black female sexuality. Painted this way, Black women were viewed as sexually wild, uncontrollable, and in many cases, animalistic.

Latina/o Americans

Sexuality for Latinas/os is marked by the dual concepts of machismo for men and marianismo for women. For many Latino men, sexuality is characterized by hypersexuality and aggressive sexual behaviors toward women. As such, a macho man is supposed to be sexually knowledgeable, aggressive, and virile. On the other hand, for many Latina women, sexuality is characterized by hyper-femininity manifested as submissiveness to men, sexual purity, and innocence. As such, feminine sexuality for Latina women is dictated by maintaining feminine virtues.

However, the concepts of machismo and marianismo, like the factors that influenced sexuality for other racialized groups, must be understood in the larger context of Spanish conquest. Rather than being indigenous to Latin American culture, both machismo and marianismo were probably the result of incorporating the economic values and gender or sexual norms of the Spanish conquistadors. With colonial economies depending on labor, a dichotomized labor system developed whereby men provided the brute labor needed for colonial enterprises and women provided the reproductive labor needed to create more workers.

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