2 research outputs found
Sexual citizenship in Belfast, Northern Ireland
In this article we examine the contours and construction of sexual citizenship in Belfast,
Northern Ireland through in-depth interviews with 30 members of the GLBT community and a discursive
analysis of discourses of religion and nationalism. In the first half of the article we outline how
sexual citizenship was constructed in the Irish context from the mid-nineteenth century onwards,
arguing that a moral conservatism developed as a result of religious reform and the interplay
between Catholic and Protestant churches, and the redefining of masculinity and femininity with the
rise of nationalism. In the second half of the article, we detail how the Peace Process has offered new
opportunities to challenge and destabilise hegemonic discourses of sexual citizenship by transforming
legislation and policing, and encouraging inward investment and gentrification