The MIT Research Seminar in French and Francophone Studies presents Identities, Communities, and Spaces.
Same-sex marriage became legal in France in May 2013. Large protests against gay marriage erupted despite opinion polls revealing a growing acceptance of homosexuality. Tissot compares two neighborhoods—Le Marais in Paris and Park Slope in Brooklyn—to examine “gay-friendliness.” To what extent are gay-friendly attitudes shared in these communities? What underlies these attitudes? To what extent have they become the social marker of a specific social layer? Sylvie Tissot is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Paris 8. Before studying gay-friendliness in Paris and New York, she did fieldwork on gentrification and upper middle class culture in Boston, and on urban policies in the outskirts of Paris. Her most recent book, De bons voisins (Good Neighbors. Researching Upper Middle Class Progressives), was published in French in 2011 and will be published in English in 2014.