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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.
List of contents
Chapter 1. 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.- Chapter 2. "There were no colored people in the classrooms": The Disavowal of Heterogeneity.- PART I: PERCEPTIONS.- Chapter 3. "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.- Chapter 4. "...[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.- PART II: SOLIDARITY.- Chapter 5. "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.- Chapter 6. "All of that talk about feminism was very hard to understand": Immigrant Women and EuropeanFeminism, 1974-1985.- PART III: PARTICIPATION.- Chapter 7. "Help me, an Indonesian boy living in Holland... flee my parents": Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in European Gay/Lesbian Contact Ads, 1960s-1980s.- Chapter 8. "I was one of the first colored gays": Experiences of Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in European Gay/Lesbian Scenes, 1960s-1980s.- Chapter 9. Epilogue: "It was a cultural evolution": Rethinking Immigrant Sexual Politics since the 1980s.- Bibliography.- Index.
About the author
Andrew DJ Shield is Fellow and Lecturer at Roskilde University, Denmark, where he focuses on the intersections of immigration, race, gender, sexuality, and media in Europe. He lives and bikes in Copenhagen.
Summary
Historicizes current European debates about the sexual politics of immigrants from Muslim-majority regions
Explores the centrality of sexual politics to European debates about immigration and integration
Challenges dominant theories linking immigration to sexual conservatism and misogynistic behaviour
