‘Race’ and Sexuality: Challenging the Patriarchal Structuring of Urban Social Space

Abstract

The topic of patriarchy has received little direct attention by geographers but it is addressed in this paper as a central tenet of the structuring of urban social space. Drawing on an outline of the various ways in which the city has been treated as a site embodying patriarchal principles, the author teases out the heterosexist and white cultural constructions that permeate our treatment of patriarchy, A call is made for explicit attention to be paid to constructions of sexuality and “race”. The contributions to these topics by lesbian feminists and black and African-American feminists are drawn into a framework for a reinvigorated conceptualization of patriarchy. Two aspects of empirical work carried out in Grand Rapids, MI, in 1989 are analyzed in relation to this framework, namely living arrangements among low-income Anglo-American and African-American women and the creation of a lesbian residential area. The paper concludes with an assessment of the extent to which our constructions of “race”, gender, and sexuality help us understand whether empirical changes in the social and spatial constitution of households are challenging the patriarchal structuring of urban social space.