This summer, Dr. Héctor Carrillo joins the 2009 Summer Institute as featured faculty.
The majority of research that discusses HIV risk, sexuality, and race seems to follow a linear formula that connects one’s sexuality and race to risky behaviors and subsequent vulnerability to HIV. Dr. Héctor Carrillo’s research however, adds an understanding of cultural context with regards to sexuality in Mexico that complicates the idea of what labels like ‘gay’ or ‘risk’ mean in different environments. What happens when men who have sex with other men, and because they are not gay or bisexual, do not believe themselves to be at risk for HIV because they do not claim a gay identity? One of Dr. Carrillo’s recent studies ‘Trayectos’, which means trajectory or path, follows the ever-changing context of sexuality as individuals move across the Mexican-US border in what he and others call “sexual migration”. We hope that your path will lead you to an exciting and innovative four weeks here at the 2009 Summer Institute on Race, Gender, and Sexuality.
“Sexual identity is a very complex thing; we like to think that once someone figures out their sexual attraction, they will fit into the categories we’ve created. But life isn’t like that.” If there was a way to condense the complications inherent in human sexuality into a single statement, Dr. Carrillo says so eloquently. According to his work, the very categories that many HIV prevention methods rely upon do not accurately reflect the sexual reality of people’s lives. When messages about HIV and risky sexual behaviors are directed towards gay and bisexual men, the information can miss individuals that do not identify as such. In Mexico, where machismo operates at institutional, cultural, and personal levels, sexuality and masculinity are tied together in ways that can perpetuate myths about sex and risk. Individuals maintain a separation from a gay identity because they refer to themselves as the penetrator in sexual activity and subsequently consider themselves to not be at risk.
Have questions? Not to worry, I did too. As a student of Dr. Carrillo, I know first hand how open and engaging he is as an instructor. He’s pushed my work and my thinking forward in ways that contribute to my growth as a professional, and has always been there to answer my questions and hear my concerns. On a personal note, I grew up not having any gay Latino individuals to look up to, no one whose trayecto in life matched even remotely with what I wanted to do. Race, gender, and sexuality are intimately connected in ways that Dr. Carrillo investigates with practical applications aimed at improving lives. Along with Drs. Cathy Cohen and Lisa Diamond, I’m glad that he will be teaching and speaking on these topics. With that in mind, I hope to see you at this year’s Summer Institute. And not to worry, the application deadline for US students has been extended to May 1st with no late fee! Apply now.
