In 2010, Ricky Martin, a popular Puerto Rican/American singer, published an online letter announcing his homosexuality to his fans. Six months later, Tiziano Ferro, a well-known Italian pop singer, also published his own coming-out letter in an Italian daily. In this paper, the authors examine these letters in order to delineate discourses of gay identity as well as emergent neoliberal framings of homosexuality—on both sides of the Atlantic. They show how Martin’s and Ferro’s coming out announcements are characterized by hegemonic discourses of homonormativity centered on private, not public, expressions of sexuality. The authors further show how those discourses are characteristic of slightly different situated economic forces and policies of neoliberalism, based on location, framing constructions of sexual identity.
In every case, copyright of work appearing in JCT is retained by the author. In accordance with its mandate to promote discussion on matters of curriculum, the Foundation for Curriculum Theory permits limited reproduction of parts of JCT. Individual articles may be reprinted for educational purposes, provided that no fees (other than copying costs) are charged.
For information regarding more extensive copying or reproduction for other purposes, contact:
editors@jctonline.org
