"Introduction: Queering Paradigms"

2007

Queer theorizing problematizes all forms of unitary subjectivity (e.g. 'lesbian', 'homosexual', 'heterosexual') and disrupts the binary oppositions that organize thinking about sexuality in Anglo/European/North American cultures and white settler societies (Petersen, 1998). This often eclectic body of poststructuralist intellectual work developed in the United States against the background of a series of lively confrontational political actions (e.g. grassroots action by ACT UP and Queer Nation) and academic conferences at which philosophers, literary theorists and historians reflected on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues (Butler, 1990, 1993; de Lauretis, 1991; Fuss, 1991; Sedgwick, 1990; Warner, 1991, 1993). This intellectual and political work was directed at constructing 'queer' as 'permanent rebellion' and transgression (Seidman, 1996). It challenged conventional gay and lesbian politics, problematized sexual and gender categor...

In this thesis, entitled “The False Idealization of Heteronormativity and the Repression of Queerness,” I examine heteronormativity as a social structure that is idealized over, and against, queerness. In the first chapter, I define heteronormativity and queerness. “Heteronormativity,” here, is simply a set of standards that dictate what one must do with their gender and sexuality, such as having sexual relations with the opposite sex, getting married, or having children. Heteronormativity is visible, validated, and normalized in society. Conversely, “queerness” refers to the social structures that dictate what one must not do with their gender and sexuality. Thus, queerness is condemned, threatened, and prohibited. Furthermore, I argue that all of us have transgressed the social structure of heteronormativity since no one can consistently maintain all that heteronormativity implies. Therefore, we all have embodied queerness in one way or another. However, we have also been systematically taught to repress queerness within ourselves and others in an attempt to reduce our fear of it. Moreover, the widespread repression and fear of queerness in society supports and justifies a hierarchical capitalistic system. Since queerness is devalued and considered inappropriate, those who hold power over us, such as in the workplace, have the right to control and regulate our gender and sexual expression. In the second chapter of my thesis, I turn my attention to Hegel’s ethical family where parents are obligated to repress their children’s queerness through the use of discipline. In the third and final chapter, I offer a solution to the problem of the repression of queerness. I argue that, if we can recognize that all of us embody queerness in one way or another and if we can allow ourselves the chance to try to understand each other’s queerness without the impulse to repress it, we can achieve queer solidarity. We will see that our struggle with gender and sexuality under a heteronormative social structure that is enforced all around us is a collective struggle. Therefore, the recognition of each other’s queerness without the impulse to condemn it can act as a bridge to help us recognize that we are integrally connected to one another.

Canadian Woman Studies, 1996

Sex Roles, 2008

interalia: a journal of queer studies

The critique of identity politics has opened up a sceptical attitude towards normative categories and demands for the coherence and stability of sex, gender and sexuality. At the same time reflections on mechanisms of exclusion within emancipatory movements and politics have also gained attention. Thus, not only (hetero-)sexism and homophobia, but also discriminations pertaining to the rigid binary gender order as well as racist discrimination are issues of importance to queer politics. Considering the critique of identity or minority politics, I have come to the conclusion that rather than to proliferate or to dissolve categories of sex, gender and sexuality, it is more promising to render them ambiguous: that is what I call a queer strategy of equivocation. Nevertheless sexual ambiguity is not progressive or liberating in itself. Instead, we have to realize that queer/feminist struggles against normative identities, a destabilization of binary, heterosexual norms or new forms of g...

Journal of Bisexuality, 2009

On November 7, 2007, the UK Critical Sexology seminar series (www.criticalsexology.org.uk) hosted a one-day event focusing on international perspectives on bisexuality. This seminar drew together academics and activists from several different countries and disciplinary approaches, most of whom were informed, to some extent, by queer theory. As part of the day the authors chaired a discussion considering the potentials and pitfalls of bringing together queer theory and bisexuality research, and the links between these issues and the agendas of queer/bi activism. This article reports on the main themes emerging from this debate and discusses them in relation to wider writing on queer theory and bisexuality. One specific tension that emerged was the usage of the word queer and what this meant to participants. Another was the tension between a bi identity politics agenda of giving a voice to a largely silenced sexuality and a queer agenda of challenging dichotomous understandings of sexuality and gender. It is clear, from the discussion and other work in this area, that rather than polarizing this as an either/or debate, it is more productive to consider the possibilities of both/and conceptualizations and to view this as a creative tension. In this article we explore these possibilities in depth, considering the way queer theory can open up multiple and fluid sexual, gendered and self experiences, though remembering the lived experience many have of fixed identities and the importance of these for achieving visibility. We also explore the links between academic research and theory, and real-world practice.

1999

It's the end of the century, and ours has been an appropriately apocalyptic decade-especially for queer thinkers, writers, and activists. In our books, magazines, and movies, one can easily take note of a desire and willingness to greet a new epoch in our cultural and political history-an epoch of greater cultural visibility, of greater political protection.

2015

The subject of this study is the term: "queer" which I analyse as a political concept. In many English-speaking countries "queer" has been a common abusive term for homosexuals and other sexually non-normative individuals. From around the end of the 1980s the term was picked up by many activists and academics as a tool for political engagement. Initially "queer" was politicized in the context of the AIDS crisis but soon afterwards, the term was used to address political, social and cultural marginalization of sexual minorities. "Queer" has ever since remained one of the most significant concepts in contemporary sexual minority politics. I examine how "queer" became a powerful political signifier and I study political messages that the term carried. My study focuses on multiple uses of "queer", rising from various forms of direct political activism to numerous academic publications. I argue that the term often functioned as a type of alternative identity, a basis of community, an incitement for political action and even a philosophical category. Rather than trying to establish common elements between the uses of "queer", I present the multiplicity of routes by which "queer" was mobilized politically. The research here described investigates an underexplored topic in the academic literature, as most publications to this day offer analyses of queer theories or activism, while the very concept "queer" has often been overlooked. By discussing the political uses of the term, my study therefore goes beyond the scope of so-called queer theory. Instead, I analyse these theories from a novel standpoint, reflecting on the conceptual politics that "queer" performs in various texts. This thesis traces the conceptual change that "queer" underwent to become an umbrella term for various political claims. At the end of the 1980s, "queer" was used by ACT UP activists and, subsequently, by other groups and individuals to express disagreement with mainstream U.S. sexual politics. From about 1991 "queer" enters academia. I study texts by Teresa de Lauretis, Michael Warner, Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Lee Edelman and several others. I offer conceptual analyses of their use of "queer" as a political concept. I also engage in discussion about the consequences of certain political claims for sexual minorities. My findings indicate that "queer" was one of the central concepts used in academic debates concerning sexual minorities in the 1990s. For instance, Teresa de Lauretis used the term to criticize the previous lesbian and gay discourse and to incite development of a new language that would accommodate the multiplicity of experiences of lesbian and gay people. Judith Butler used the term to address intersections of sex, class and race. For Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick "queer" is a specific deconstructive term, whereas for Jack (Judith) Halberstam it is an anarchic term that opens a horizon of an alternative politics. Over the past recent decades there have been countless uses of "queer" as a political concept. My thesis analyses the most influential ones. I present a variety of political purposes the concept serves and point out the importance of this concept within contemporary sexual minority movement and thought. Halperin (1995) and Lynne Huffer (2010) attach "queer" to the Foucaultian philosophical tradition. Lee Edelman (2004) and Teresa de Lauretis (2008) use the term within psychoanalytical tradition. Judith Butler (1993) deploys "queer" as part of a poststructural political framework and Eve Kosofsky-Sedgwick (1993) brings out the political potential of literary criticism when using the term "queer". To study "queer" as a political concept one has to start with a few basic questions. It is important to know initial signifiers related to the terms "queer" and "political" and finally one needs to ask whether "queer" is a political concept. This introductory question is in itself quite challenging. Politics is traditionally understood as activities which are related to making and changing law. Inspirational for me is the description of "politics" proposed by Chantal Mouffe. She writes that "politics" "refers to the ensemble of practices, discourses and institutions that seek to establish a certain order and to organise human coexistence in conditions which are always potentially conflicting" (Mouffe 2013, 2-3). I also follow her understanding of hegemony. In this context, many have used "queer" as a way to oppose various hegemonic orders. Nevertheless, as one of the functions of "queer" is to be a form of personal and collective identification, the above description seems to be insufficient. In my study I follow a comprehensive understanding of politics as activities that people engage as individuals, groups, communities or even nations in order to create or challenge the world in which they live. Politics can be theorised in this context as a project of world making/challenging that people engage in by forming specific groups. Thus, a preliminary working definition of politics is: interventions that contest hegemonic order and aim at establishing new ones. Although in general I find it fruitful to think of politics through the notions of action and collectivity, sometimes an individual act can be deeply political. However, an individual act is often made in the name of a group of people or a community. A disputable issue, specifically in the case of the use of "queer", is the use of "political" in relation to various works of art and performances, especially considering that "politics" is attached to groups and their interests. Frequently artists claim that their work is political, as do academics in their analysis of works of art such as literature or film. My intention is not to say who has the right to use the term "political" to describe their activities or which articulation of "political" is correct. Clearly, when applied to works of art and their analysis, the connotation of "political" has a different dimension. It refers to objects that can potentially change or challenge our understanding of social reality. My study of "queer" is based on a heterogenic understanding of politics, not on one specific articulation of "politics". "Queer" is related to various individual and group actions but it also refers to artistic or academic works. One thing is certain and that is that this term in most of its uses is not neutral, but instead occurs as part of a specific political judgement. Personally, I believe that politics is an activity that is close to people's lives therefore in my thesis I criticize uses of "queer" that, according to me, lose relation to lives and experiences of LGBT people. In this regard, I think that the adjective "political" can be graded, certain acts 1 The approach has been applied and developed within the research team Politics of Philosophy and Gender (PPhiG)