ABSTRACT
As dimensions of the human experience, race, gender, and sexuality have been discussed in terms of physical characteristics and biology, as well as social and political implications. Differently put, all three can be analyzed in terms of the classic “nature-nurture” controversy. With regard to physical characteristics, race has been discussed largely in terms of skin color, hair, and facial features, and gender and sexuality in terms of female and male sexual features and relations. With regard to social and political implications, all three have been discussed in terms of associated behaviors and expectations, social relations, and hierarchies across various groups, in historical and present-day micro and macro contexts. While, in the past, race relations in the US context were discussed largely in terms of black-and-white, today this discussion has evolved to engage Native Americans, Latinas/Latinos and Asian Americans as well as multiraciality. While, in the past, gender relations were discussed primarily in terms of male-female, today, increasingly, the discussion also includes transgender and intersexed individuals and communities. Similarly, today, the discussion of sexuality has evolved beyond a primary focus on heterosexuality to engage homosexuality, bisexuality, and genderqueer identifications. Indeed, discussions of race, gender, and sexuality have evolved beyond the premise of predetermined, “essential” identities to consider also the choices and preferences individuals exercise in determining their own raced, gendered, and cultural identities. Witness, for instance, the presence of rap and hip-hop artists, not only in diverse racial and ethnic communities within the United States, but also in different countries across the world. Or, a young man/woman may choose the broader term “queer” as an identifier rather than the more defined, narrower “gay”/“lesbian,” or “bisexual.”
