Intersections of Race and Sexuality

In his article "I Think You're the Smartest Race I've Ever Met: Racialised Economies of Queer Male Desire", Alan Han develops a concept of desire as capital. In this economy of desire, he explores the way queer Asian men are racialised, whereas queer white men possess whiteness which means they also possess the invisible standard of desirability.

When Han says "...whilst campaigning for queer rights, I realized that the rights I was fighting for were those of queer white men", he problematises the way campaigns often ignore intersections, leading to exclusions and prejudices against certain groups of people. This is similar to how feminist activism is often white feminist activism, or women-only feminist activism.

In response to his question "What do queer white men gain from refusing to desire queer Asian men?" it would seem that it is a matter of othering queer Asian men in order to reinforce queer white men's white supremacy. However, as Han mentions that people don't "consciously choose their desires", I think it is important to look at the relations of power involved in the experiences of both queer white men and queer Asian men, taking into account that queer Asian men are also actors on the playing field where queer white men are more desirable to all queer men.

Reference:

Han, A 2006, ‘I Think You’re the Smartest Race I’ve Ever Met: Racialised Economies of Queer Male Desire’, Australian Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Association e-Journal, vol.2, no.2, pp.1-14.