African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
223 p., "This collection is wide-ranging, moving from the Caribbean (Jamaica in particular) to Cambridge, England, and from poetry to sex to discrimination." -Library Journal
Compares sexual prejudice in Jamaica to that in Britain and investigated the relationship between contact and sexual prejudice in both countries. Jamaican participants reported more negative attitudes toward gay men than did British participants, but contact was more strongly associated with reduced sexual prejudice for Jamaican participants than for British participants.
Uses the content analysis of publicly available information to explore the posture of key public-policy actors on homosexuals and homosexuality. Concludes that this discourse evinces a settled heteronormative value system, reflecting a consensus on either side of the political divide and applauded by popular culture and popular opinion.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
144 p., Features interviews with government and health agency officials, HIV/AIDS activists, and residents of the country's capital, Bridgetown. Using these and records from local libraries and archives, Murray unravels the complex historical, social, political, and economic forces through which same-sex desire, identity, and prejudice are produced and valued in this Caribbean nation-state. Illustrates the influence of both Euro-American and regional gender and sexual politics on sexual diversity in Barbados.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
261 p., Examines sexualities, violence, and repression in the Caribbean experience. Analyzing the sexual norms and expectations portrayed in Caribbean and diaspora literature, music, film, and popular culture. Demonstrates how many individuals contest traditional roles by maneuvering within and/or trying to change their society's binary gender systems. These transgressions have come to better represent Caribbean culture than the "official" representations perpetuated by governmental elites and often codified into laws that reinforce patriarchal, heterosexual stereotypes.
Examines the prevalence of disorders and associated risk factors in a sample of sexual minority men and women in Jamaica, a country that is widely known for its high societal rejection of homosexuality. Poor relationships with family, negative or abusive experiences related to one's sexual orientation, and greater openness about one's sexual orientation were independent risk factors.
Uses data from a sample of working age Jamaicans to explore dimensions of their attitudes towards homosexuals. The results confirm strong negative attitudes towards homosexuals and suggested alignment with attitudes emanating from sources as distinct as the church, the state and the proponents of popular culture.
