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Specifically, I analyze the way Latino gay men construct and reinforce boundaries of masculinity within their social interactions. This article examines how US-born Latino gay men “do” masculinity ( West and Zimmerman, 1987 Connell, 1995). Although there have been recent scholarly attempts to capture the experiences of gay immigrants ( Cantú, 1999 Carrillo, 1999), there has been significantly less research on gay children of immigrants. There has been extensive research on masculinity among heterosexual men ( Kimmel, 1996 Messner, 2000), men of color ( Mirande, 1997 Kelley, 2004 Pascoe, 2007), and gay White men ( Connell, 1992 Levine and Kimmel, 1998 Yeung et al, 2006). Many of the men, particularly in the early stages of coming out of the closet, associated White gay men (and their associated social scene) with femininity, while attaching notions of masculinity to being an “authentic” Latino man.
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What was also interesting, as illustrated by Javier's comment, was the way in which respondents’ conceptions of masculinity were racialized. In addition, masculinity functioned as a prerequisite to determine which men were acceptable to date. The men in my study closely surveilled each others’ behaviors, often sanctioning their friends who behaved too femininely in public settings. The men constantly debated, both explicitly and implicitly, about what type of clothing, behaviors and ways of speaking they considered to be feminine, and by default non-masculine. Throughout my conversations with Javier and other US-born Latino gay men, masculinity was a regular topic of discussion. And usually, Latino men only go for other masculine Latino guys. That's not what I found I’m attracted to either. I was just trying to be part of the mainstream white gay scene. I mean, when I first came out, I used to play the part, you know, be a little more femme. For the most part, I consider myself masculine.