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The history of online trading began in the 1960s with the emergence of electronic communication networks, which allowed the electronic execution of trades outside traditional exchanges. The internet revolution led to the development of online brokerage platforms such as E*Trade and Schwab, enabling non-institutional investors to participate in the digital trading revolution. These platforms have evolved to serve the retail investor market, eventually adapting to mobile-first and commission-free models, significantly lowering the barriers to entry for financial markets. Platforms like Robinhood and other fintech firms have rapidly gained market share by offering services and products previously unavailable, such as commission-free trades, mobile trading, and novel products such as fractional shares and cryptocurrency investing. This chapter provides an overview of the history of online trading. It also introduces several new developments in fintech and the online trading industry and discusses various controversies and future implications of new technologies.

This paper intervenes in the consequences of a myth propagated in academic discourse about the dancesport world, according to which half of the men in Latin dancesport are gay. I challenge two assumptions that surround this myth: that cisgender gay men do not contribute to the reification of the heteronormative gender binary, and that the dancesport scene is inclusive of gay people. These assumptions are based on a blatant lack of understanding of the position of gay men within the dancesport world – that is, the ways in which subjects are constituted through the effects of power.

This work is based on empirical research I conducted in the dancesport community, including ethnographic and autoethnographic fieldwork, extant documents (e.g. books, blogs, Judging Regulations) and interviews with experts and participants of the dancesport scene (2021/2022). To analyse the data, I relied on the principles of dispositive analysis, grounded theory and dance analysis.

I show that gay dancers have turned to assimilation as their only available strategy. I discuss the negative consequences of assimilation as a political strategy and how it impacted queer dancers – between invisibilisation, residual shame and a failure to challenge the heteronormative gender binary. This led gay dancers to rationalise and perpetrate harm based on the systems of oppression they had internalised.

I conclude the paper by highlighting a way beyond assimilation for queer dancers.

This paper addresses a critical gap in research on LGBT + inclusion in dancesport.