Pathways of Desire

When we think of sex and migration, we tend to assume that the sexually oppressed (sexual minorities) opt to move to a place where they can find sexual liberation. Here we have a book about gay Mexicans moving to the U.S., but the narrative is not a simple one, not a story merely of escape from repression to the romance of warm acceptance in a new environment. In fact, gay life in Mexico can be richly rewarding, and American sexual culture can be cold and instrumental. So, how to account for sexual migration from the Latino south to the gringo North? Carrillo turns for explanations to the stories of the migrant men’s family and community experiences before they migrated. Once the migrants arrive in the U.S. and start learning to navigate new sexual landscapes, Carrillo shows how, with the values they bring with them from Mexico, these migrants transform the cultures where they settle with their own cultural and sexual styles. He also shows how divergent the experiences are of middle-class vs. working-class men. And so we get the whole arc of immigration pathways, from pre-migration to post-migration. Best of all, Carrillo uses individual life stories to produce a nuanced account of the social, cultural, and political processes that are captured in the idea of sexual freedom.