Title

The Colonization of Sexuality Within the Dominican American Diaspora

Date of Completion

January 2011

Keywords

Psychology, Counseling|Hispanic American Studies

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

This dissertation discusses information gathered from 25 in-depth interviews with 1st and 2nd generation Dominicanas living in the United States regarding their sexuality. Prevalent in all the interviews was the process of making difference. Finding difference between groups (women vs. men or Latinas vs. White women) was salient. Interviews were analyzed from a feminist postcolonial framework and the themes drawn from the interviews were separated into three distinct colonizing processes: (a) Making Difference, (b) Upholding Differences, and (c) Negotiating Differences. Themes include Dominicanas' perception of the influence race, gender and class have on sexuality. Each theme contains aspects of more than one social construct (race, gender, class). The influence of race was apparent when the participants spoke of desire and resistance and less obvious, but still influential, when they spoke about religion. The topics of religion, infidelity, virginity, resistance, and desire were closely tied to issues of class. Gender was highlighted in all thematic results. ^

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