Immigrants in the Sexual Revolution: Perceptions and Participation in Northwest Europe

Description

This book focuses on the latter half of the twentieth century, when much of northwest Europe grew increasingly multicultural with the arrival of foreign workers and (post-)colonial migrants, whilst simultaneously experiencing a boom in feminist and sexual liberation activism. Using multilingual newspapers, foreign worker organizations’ archives, and interviews, this book shows that immigrants in the Netherlands and Denmark held a variety of viewpoints about European gender and sexual cultures. Some immigrants felt solidarity with, and even participated in, European social movements that changed norms and laws in favor of women’s equality, gay and lesbian rights, and sexual liberation. These histories challenge today’s politicians and journalists who strategically link immigration to sexual conservatism, misogyny, and homophobia. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: “The disaster of Islamization…where gays are not safe to walk the streets, women are seen as inferior”: Pro-Gay, Anti-Immigrant Politics and the Right, 2000–2017 (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 1-18 “There were no colored people in the classrooms”: The Disavowal of Heterogeneity (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 19-49 Front Matter ....Pages 51-51 “Like the Great Pyramids of Egypt…you can’t talk about Denmark without talking about The Danish Woman”: Immigrant Perceptions of European Gender and Sexual Cultures (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 53-86 “…[I]t does not have to be because they want to get married and have children”: Teaching Danish Sexuality and Gender Norms to Foreign Workers, 1972 (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 87-111 Front Matter ....Pages 113-113 “They’re fighting for women’s rights, we’re fighting for equal rights for Turkish people, and that’s the only difference”: Foreign Workers Organize in the Footsteps of the Women’s Movement, The Netherlands, 1974–1980 (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 115-145 “All of that talk about feminism was very hard to understand”: Immigrant Women and European Feminism, 1974–1985 (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 147-173 Front Matter ....Pages 175-175 “Help me, an Indonesian boy living in Holland…flee my parents”: Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in European Gay/Lesbian Contact Ads, 1960s–1980s (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 177-217 “I was one of the first colored gays”: Experiences of Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in Gay/Lesbian Scenes, the Netherlands and Denmark, 1960s–80s (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 219-245 Epilogue: “It was a cultural evolution”: Rethinking Immigrant Sexual Politics Since the 1980s (Andrew D J Shield)....Pages 247-258 Back Matter ....Pages 259-287