Abstract
In Amigas y Amantes (Friends and Lovers), Katie L. Acosta notes that there is a lot to be learned by studying how lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) or “sexually nonconforming” Latinas “do” family and sexuality. Drawing on in-depth interviews and participant observation, Acosta traces the “emotion work” of LBQ Latinas as they develop their sexualities, establish families of choice (partners), and maintain relationships with families of origin (biological relatives). She particularly wants to understand how respondents integrate the conflicting needs of these two familial units while negotiating their sexualities.
Acosta focuses the first section of her book on how her respondents manage their gender presentation to maintain familial acceptance and how they navigate the contradictions between their sexuality and religious beliefs. She then shifts her attention onto the work LBQ Latinas do for others, examining how language barriers, racial hierarchies, and citizenship status complicate how they “do” family and parenthood in their (mostly) interethnic/interracial romantic relationships. Finally, she considers how respondents utilize the apparatuses of “space, visibility, and silence” when disclosing their sexualities to relatives.
Acosta’s findings indicate that LBQ Latinas do not experience same-sex partnerships and biological families as mutually exclusive entities. Instead, the women work to integrate their families of origin and choice, even if this integration reifies their invisibility as LBQ women in their biological families. Acosta also finds that sexuality is not always the primary cause of familial resistance—gender transgressions and crossed ethno-racial barriers also produce familial conflict.
Especially given the absence of work on how Latinas negotiate sexuality and family, Acosta’s contribution to family, Latina/o studies, and sexuality studies is important; and scholars who study these fields will find her book particularly useful.