Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies A Cross-Disciplinary Approach Thirty Years of Queer Theory

Part Theoretical Foundations 20 Thirty Years of Queer Theory Miller LEARNING OBJECTIVES Upon completion of this chapter , students will be able to do the following Identify key approaches and debates within the of queer theory . Explain the social construction of sex , gender , and sexuality . Describe the relationship among history , political activism , and studies . Summarize the personal , theoretical , and political differences of the , gay liberation , radical feminism , rights , and queer movements . INTRODUCTION It is a challenge to create an origin story about a of study , in this instance queer theory , because ideas are not birthed in a moment , a day , or even a year . They build on what has come before , on it , challenge it , seek to bend or break it , and only eventually , and only sometimes , become an identifiable entity with a name given to them . The story of queer theory emergence is entwined with queer activism . Queer theory and queer activism are products of their historical moment as well as transformative forces changing how gender and sexuality are stood in multiple academic disciplines and , increasingly , outside academia . Additionally , both queer theory and activism introduced ways of thinking

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 21 and acting through politics that went beyond normalizing demands for the inclusion of people in existing social institutions . The and saw a rapid increase in lesbian and gay ism and scholarship . A police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969 ignited demonstrations . Following the Stonewall rebellion , lesbian and gay liberation groups started to for equal rights , and some scholars started to study the history and culture of lesbians , gays , and bisexuals . Then , in 1987 , Larry Kramer , Vito Russo , and others founded the group AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power ( ACT UP ) to demand that politicians , the medical community , drug manufacturers , and the public acknowledge the AIDS epidemic . The groups motto was , and remains , Silence An offshoot of ACT UP , Queer Nation , was founded in 1990 to the escalating Violence and discrimination against people . At roughly the same time , the term queer theory began to late and quickly gained momentum within academic circles . The theorist Teresa de ( coined the term at a University IT A ?

Figure . Teresa de . From Queer A Graphic History by Barker and Jules , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission .

22 Introduction to Studies of California , Santa Cruz , conference about lesbian and gay in February 1990 . The conference proceedings were later collected in a 1991 special issue of A Cultural Studies . In her introduction to the special issue , de outlines the central features of queer theory , sketching the in broad strokes that have held up remarkably De suggested gay and lesbian should be ied , not as deviations of heterosexuality , but on their own terms . She went on to claim gay and lesbian should be understood and imagined as forms of resistance to cultural homogenization , counteracting dominant According to de , and queer theorists more generally , lesbian and gay enact intimate and social modes of relating they put new things in the world , and those new things have transformative potential . From its earliest iterations , queer theory challenged norms that inequalities and , at its best , sought to understand how sexuality intersected with gender , race , class , and other social identities to tain social hierarchies . In fact , de used the term queer to create critical distance from lesbian and gay studies . Lesbian and gay studies courses began to appear in the , and programs slowly emerged in the . De claimed that differences were collapsed within lesbian and gay studies and the experience of white gay men was privileged . She notes that although it became standard to refer to lesbians and gays in the , the and obscured differences instead of revealing them . In addition to sexuality , de hoped queer theory Watch In a video in the series by them , Tyler Ford explains the history behind the word queer ( What are the key events that Ford as the broad outlines of the history of the word queer in the English language ?

What is your own history with the word queer ?

Where did you first hear it , and how was it used ?

Do you consider it an insult , a statement of resistance , or something else ?

Do you as queer ?

How does your history with the word relate to the broader history described by Ford in the video ?

What connections between the two do you ?

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 23 would identify and trouble other constructed silences instance , those of race , ethnicity , class , and gender ?

She wanted to break with the past and transform the future by developing new ways of sexual identities in the present of the . Gay and lesbian activism has a complex history in the United States and even more so globally . Activist demands that have been most to heterosexuals are those that foreground the right to privacy , individual autonomy , and equal access to social institutions like marriage and the military . However , queer activism and scholarship reject mainstream liberal ideals of privacy , the goal of formal equality under the law , and the desirability of assimilation into existing social institutions . Instead , queer theory and activism demand publicness , reject civility , and challenge the legitimacy , naturalness , and intrinsic value of marriage or the regulate gender and Of course , this very critical , very radical relationship to the normative appears in times before the late and in places other than the United States , but it is then and there that queer activism and queer theory are named and begin to be , however hesitantly , This chapter explores the development of queer theory from the to the present . It begins by elaborating on distinctions between gay and lesbian studies and queer studies before identifying important trends in queer theory . THE CONSTRUCTIONIST TURN IN SEXUALITY AND GENDER STUDIES Lesbian and gay studies assumed clear subjects of and were studied as historical , cultural , or literary figures of to reclaim a forgotten past and create a sense of collective identity and continuity in the present . Some would argue that lesbian and gay studies took an essentialist View of sexuality that assumed individuals possessed a and innate sexual identity that was both universal and Queer theorists take a very different approach to understanding , which can be understood as constructionist . see identity as a sociocultural construct . To assert that identities are cultural constructs assumes that in different times and places different meanings and values dominate and identity . These meanings and values are transmitted through cultural texts like television , music , or film and are produced within social institutions like schools , museums , and families . As a result , meanings and values change across space and time . essentialist The view of sexuality that assumes individuals possess a and innate sexual identity that is both universal and . constructionist The view that identity is a sociocultural construct that changes .

24 Introduction to Studies discourses An institutionalized way of thinking and speaking , which creates a social boundary what can be said about a topic . sexology The study of human sexuality , including human sexual interests , behaviors , and functions . In the , the French historian and philosopher Michel published The History I ) which describes the origin of modern homosexual identity . In this sweeping history of sexuality , creates an theory of formation . For , Sexuality must not be thought of as a kind of natural given which power tries to hold in check , or as an obscure domain which knowledge tries gradually to uncover . It is the name that can be given to a historical By rejecting the idea that something called sexuality exists in all of us , waiting to be liberated , work challenged not only how sexuality was understood in popular and scholarly discourses but also how power was understood . For , power does not repress a preexisting sexual identity it provides the conditions needed for sexual identities to multiply . Here it is important to distinguish between sexual identities and sexual practices . Sexual practices have existed in multiple forms across time and space , but only in particular moments do practices congeal into identities that can be named and managed . According to , power is everywhere , although it is not evenly dispersed . He argues that medical discourse , particularly the of sexology , which applies principles to the study of sexuality , intersected with legal discourse to simultaneously create the need and the means to identify and produce knowledge about sexual identity , the homosexual . Power in this instance belonged to medical and legal authorities . However , naming the homosexual had unforeseen sequences . Those as homosexual in medical discourse the discourse to revise what the category might mean , identify one Watch A video from the School of Life series discusses Michel , a of history who explored different , crime and punishment , and the goal of radically disrupting our understanding of them ( What was personal background , and how do you imagine it might have his academic career ?

Do you see progress or instead a lack of spontaneity and imagination in the way the West has treated people with tal health issues , criminals , and homosexuals ?

Did want us to become nostalgic , or did he want us to learn from the past about better ways of doing things now ?

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 25 another , build a community , and make political demands . This can be seen in the early movement , which refers to late century and early homosexual rights activism that emerged in tandem and entwined with sexology and laws . work a new wave of historians committed to studying the construction of modern homosexuality . David , a historian of classical Greek culture , provided volumes worth of historical evidence to support more theoretical claims ?

argues that using modern identity to understand culturally and expressions of desire is poor scholarship . He interprets sexual histories through a queer lens that does not assume that identities and experiences are universal . ohn , another queer historian , connects the development of modern gay identity to urbanization and Ned , also a historian , focuses a critically queer lens on heterosexuality , arguing that it is also a social By demonstrating that heterosexuality , like sexuality , is a modern invention , seeks to strip the category of its normalizing power . and contribute to a critical standing of the social construction of homosexuality and heterosexuality . This does important political and intellectual work in troubling the idea of heterosexuality as normal and natural , a claim that has been used to marginalize homosexuals . Eve , a literary theorist , continues the project of troubling both homosexuality and heterosexuality in her 1990 publication Closet , which is widely recognized as a foundational queer theory text ( argues that by the twentieth century , in Western culture , every person was assigned a sexual For , the history of homosexuality is not a minority is the history of modern Western culture . According to , sexual and heterosexual is central to the construction of the modern , because it informs modern modes of population management . She introduces the terms and to describe competing and coexisting understandings of homosexuality that shape how we imagine sexuality . The View sees homosexuality as relevant only to . This view sees homosexuals as a group of people , a minority , within a largely heterosexual world . This can have its instance , in creating a discernible community able to make demands of the state , as seen in the movement as well as in current gay ( and lesbian ) rights activism . The view , in contrast , sees sexuality and sexual as important to everyone . This is the movement Emerging in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 19505 , the movement was a concerted effort to demand equal rights for homosexuals . A term introduced by Eve to describe the view of homosexuality as relevant only to homosexuals . This view sees homosexuals as a group of people , a minority , within a largely heterosexual world . A term introduced by Eve to describe viewing sexuality and sexual as important to everyone , rather than focusing on homosexuals as a distinct group .

26 Introduction to Studies Figure . Eve . From Queer A Graphic History by ohn Barker and , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission . system A phrase coined by Gayle Rubin to describe the social apparatus that oppresses women . I CALLING ATTENTION To THE THAT mus yuu . as , AND ass as some mun LOSS on mums . position takes in her book when she claims that sexual is central to social organization and identity formation . Social constructionism also understandings of gender . For instance , the cultural anthropologist Gayle Rubin essay The Traffic in Women Notes on the Political Economy of Sex sought to identify the origin of women oppression across It is a constructivist account of gender identity that connects the binary construction of gender ( man or woman ) to heterosexual kinship and by extension to oppression within heterosexual patriarchal cultures ( Rubin uses the phrase system to describe the process by which social relations produce women as oppressed beings . According to Rubin , One begins to have a sense of a systematic social tus which takes up females as raw material and fashions domesticated women as products . Rubin writes , As a preliminary , a

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 27 SEXUAL . SEX NEGATIVITY . THE excessive ON SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR ( TO OTHER LIKE oak EATING HABITS , FOR EXAMPLE ) THE SEX HIERARCHY , THE DOMINO THEORY OF SEXUAL ?

THE LACK OF A ( OF BENIGN SEXUAL VARIATION causes ) UA st gender system is the set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity and in which these transformed sexual needs are . Although Rubin work is very in feminist and queer theory , one of her basic assumptions , that sex is raw material and thus lacks the of social norms , has been challenged by other queer theorists . The queer feminist science scholar Anne early work on intersex categories contends that although social are invested in maintaining a dyadic sex system , this system does not map onto nature ( She argues that sex exists as a spectrum between female and male with a minimum of distinct categories . introduces the terms , and to categorize anatomical , hormonal , and chromosomal differences that fall Figure . Gayle Rubin . From Queer A Graphic History by ohn Barker and , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission . intersex Persons who do not have chromosomes , gonads , or genitals that meet medical expectations and of sex within a binary system .

28 Introduction to Studies Figure . Anne Sterling . From Queer A Graphic History by ohn Barker and , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission . MANY BODIES MU TOGETHER ANATOMICAL CONVENTIONALLY ATTRIBUTED MALES AND FEMALES . MODERN SURGICAL TECHNIQUES MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM . CHILDREN WHO ARE BORN A COMMON USUALLY BECAUSE CORRECT THEM RIGHT AWAY . outside a sex Like Rubin , early provocation about sex categories sees sex as biological , natural , and unchangeable it is raw material that culture transforms into gender . Both Rubin work and early work leave a binary in place and suggest that sex correlates with nature and gender correlates with nurture . work was soon challenged for focusing too much attention on genitals . For instance , the social psychologist Suzanne Kessler was critical of attachment to reading genitals for the truth of sex , insisting that the performance of gender on the body rather than on genitalia was more often used to gender

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 29 has since conceded Kessler Most queer theoretical engagements with gender the body , particularly genitals , as a site of truth by suggesting that the appearance of binary sexed bodies is actually an effect of binary gender discourse and , as discussed in the next section , binary performances of gender . In other words , a binary system that assumes a correlation between sex and gender is an effect of power , not nature . GENDER The cultural anthropologist Esther Newton published Camp Female Impersonators in America , a groundbreaking ethnography of drag culture in 1972 . Newton uses the term drag queen to describe a sexual male who often , or habitually , dresses in female Newton separated the sexed body from the gender expressed on it , suggesting that there is no natural link between the two , as discussed in the previous section , but in 1972 the link between sex and gender remained tightly clamped . Newton writes , The effect of the drag system is to wrench sex roles loose from that which supposedly determines them , that is , genital sex . Gay people know that behavior can be achieved , contrary to what is popularly believed . They know that the possession of one type of genital equipment by no means guarantees the naturally appropriate behavior . 20 Like Rubin , Newton was writing before the 1990 birth of queer ory . Also like Rubin , her intellectual investments and theoretical were harbingers of things to come . In fact , Butler , who is often as an early and formative player in the creation of queer theory , cites both theorists as to her work on . Butler Gender Trouble , originally published in 1990 , duces the term to suggest that gender identity is not ural and does not emanate from an essential truth that can be located on or in the body ( For Butler , gender is established as consistent and cohesive through its repeated , for Butler , because gender must be constantly , it can be intentionally or unintentionally troubled , revealing it as an ongoing project with no origin . This is similar to Newton observation of drag , particularly her suggestion that drag reveals gender as a performance . Gender Trouble was critiqued for ignoring the materiality of the body and real sex differences . In a publication , Butler argues that sex is a regulatory ideal that forces many bodies into a drag Refers to the performance of femininity or masculinity , and is most frequently used to describe the performance of gender expressions that differ from those associated with the performer natal sex assignment . drag queen Most often someone who as a man who behaves in an exaggerated performance of femininity . Drag queens are often associated with gay culture . The capacity of language and expressive actions to produce a type of being .

30 Introduction to Studies THE EM ?

ON WOMEN A GROUP UNITS AND THE VERY CULTURAL THAT TO . Figure . Judith Butler . From Queer A Graphic History by ohn Barker and , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission . Watch Butler describes the social construction of gender , and the policing of gender , by social institutions in this video in the Big Think series ( Clearly a social constructionist , Butler emphasizes that she considers gender an important site of freedom and pleasure . Butler states that there is a difference between saying that gender is performed as opposed to saying gender is performative . Describe that difference in your own words . What of different kinds of behavior help you understand that difference ?

And if you disagree with this idea , explain why you do not see an important difference between the two . Butler names institutional powers , like psychologists and psychiatrists , and informal , like bullying , that try to keep us in our place . Has someone you know had their gender presentation challenged or censored ?

Was there any way for the person to resist that challenge ?

How would you respond to that challenge today ?

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 31 This is likely reminiscent of provocation that there are discernible sexes . Butler responded to critique by arguing that , although discourse does not produce material sex differences , it organizes these differences , gives them meaning , and renders them In Female , continues the work of tangling gender from genitals through a series of interpretive readings of literary , and historical representations ( argues that female masculinity actually affords us a glimpse of how masculinity is constructed as masculinity . In other words , women and especially lesbians who are masculine reveal masculinity as a construct , in much the same way that drag queen performances reveal femininity as a construct . convincingly claims , Masculinity must not and can not and should not reduce down to the male body and its Like many queer theorists engaging gender , genitals , refocusing on gender expressions . In other words , much as ton observes about drag performances of femininity , anybody can put on a gender expression . Queer theories of gender have scholars across disciplines , radically transforming how we think about gender . For Butler , there is no natural and essential gender or sexuality that queers deviate from . For Newton , femininity is not the property of women , just as for tam masculinity is not the property of men . Instead , we are all citing , at times contesting , at others complying with , existing ideas about gender A gender and queer theorist and author , perhaps best known for work on and female masculinity . Figure . ack at Work Itl , a conference at the University of Southern California on gender , race , and sexuality in pop music professions presented in association with the 2011 Pop Conference at the University of California at Los Angeles . oe Mabel .

32 Introduction to Studies Susan Stryker An American professor , author , and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality , and a founder of Transgender Studies . and sexuality . Additionally , these ideas , and the value hierarchies that adhere to them , are maintained only by their reproduction . The work discussed in this chapter dissipates some of the power that around the idea of natural gender and sexuality , an idea that has often been used to mark queer genders and as unnatural and by extension inferior to heterosexuality . TRANSGENDER STUDIES Transgender studies is an of knowledge production that , like queer theory , challenges discursive and institutional regimes of . However , whereas queer theory is sometimes guilty of the of homosexual ways of differing from heterosexual norms , transgender studies challenges naturalized links between the material body , psychic structures , and social ' I studies emerged in activist and academic circles around the same time as queer activism and theory . The anthropologist David Valentine attributes the terms early emergence to activist communities in the United States and the United Kingdom , noting that it was seen as a way of organizing a politics of gender variance that differentiated it from Susan Stryker provides an even more , ing that the term transgender emerged in the but did take on its current meaning until 1992 when Leslie published gender Liberation A Movement Whose Has At this point transgender began to be used broadly to refer to discomfort with role expectations , being queer , occasional or more frequent , permanent and living , through to ing major health interventions such as hormonal therapy and surgical reassignment procedures . 29 Before the 19905 , transgender referred to persons who socially transitioned to a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth without using hormones or surgery to medically transition . By refusing to accept that there is a right way to be transgender and encouraging coalition building under the newly term gender , hoped transgender persons could build a transformative 1993 publication , Stone Butch Blues , is a personal account of negotiating New York City as a butch lesbian in the experienced harassment and brutality at the hands of police , and the vivid descriptions of violence in the book illustrate the consequences of not embodying a socially

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 33 Watch The Advocate interviews Kate , and she explains the gender revolution ( Restate , in your own words , what Kate means when she talks about gender in four dimensions . What are some examples of what calls the of gender truths discussed in this chapter so far ?

describes how she sees the future of gender . What hopes do you have for the future of gender ?

What fears ?

Why ?

gender expression . Work like this and work published by other trans scholars demonstrates the importance of thinking gender and queerly . Another example is Kate , whose 1995 publication , Gender Outlaw On Men , Women , and the Rest of Us , humorously and accessibly describes her experiences with gender and writes , I identify as neither male nor female , and now that my lover is going through his gender change , it turns out I neither straight not She expresses her feelings of shame at not into normative gender identities and a corresponding sense of relief with lectual work coming out in the that made it possible to understand gender as a social AGAINST In the years of the , groups like the Human Rights Campaign ( which takes a formal rights approach to securing legal protections for persons , experienced many For instance , Ask , Do Tell , a policy of forced silence about sexuality for gay , lesbian , and bisexual service members instituted by the Bill Clinton tion in 1993 , was repealed in 2011 . Additionally , as of June 26 , 2015 , marriage is legal in the United States . Although inclusion in these institutions is contingent , precarious , and not evenly distributed Human Rights Campaign The largest advocacy group . It works for legal protections for persons , such as promoting legislation to prevent discrimination and hate crimes . Don Ask , Don Tell The military policy on gays , bisexuals , and lesbians serving in the military , introduced in 1994 by Bill administration . The policy required gay , lesbian , and bisexual persons to remain closeted while in the military . In exchange , it prohibited the discrimination of closeted service persons . marriage The marriage of two people of the same sex or gender in a civil or religious ceremony .

34 Introduction to Studies assimilationist A strategy or one who enacts such strategy to gain access to , or assimilate into , existing social structures , like monogamous marriage or serving in the military . Academics and activists use the term to discuss attempts by persons to assimilate into institutions like marriage and the military that reproduce hierarchy and are associated with oppression . among all members of the community , these two shifts in policy secured access and rights for some , white gay men for whom marriage equality has often been a mary political concern . Queer critics of the maintain that the organization has a limited vision of human rights , is procapitalist , and supports bills that fail to include transgender example , the proposed 2007 Employment Act . For queers invested in transformative oriented politics , the assimilationist strategies employed by liberal organizations by the stand in the way of social change . Many queer theorists and activists are concerned that emphasizing single issues ( marriage or the military ) and centering politics on inclusion into existing institutions diminishes the radical potential of queer thought and action . The desire for radical social change that is central to the queer theoretical project is discussed further in the next section . Lisa coined the term to describe the ist work of groups like the According to , groups like the represent the interests of white gay men whose privilege provides them cover to access social institutions and from assimilation in ways unavailable or undesirable to other members of the community . For instance , a primary of marriage is access to health insurance , but one partner must have health insurance for marriage to help a couple in this way . ob discrimination , housing crimination , street harassment , and access to documents are central to the politics of queers of color as well as women and come members of the community . Many express criticism that Explore Visit the website of the Human Rights Campaign ( and explore . What issues and whose interests does the most seem to represent ?

Is diversity present in the ?

Is there a place for organizations like the in queer politics ?

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 35 groups like the have become representative voices of the community and are failing to represent its most vulnerable members . Published only a few years after work on and , Terrorist in Queer Times that some queer subjects have been incorporated into national life as valued citizens . However , according to , This benevolence towards sexual others is contingent upon ing parameters of white racial privilege , consumption capabilities , gender and kinship , and bodily integrity . 37 further argues that welcoming some queers into national life requires queerness to be onto other bodies . She suggests that the deviancy and abjection previously associated with gay and lesbian is redirected to brown Muslim bodies and to justify the war on terror . That is , the United States appeals to its tolerance of some queers to itself as civil and progressive . It then attaches sexual backwardness and violent homophobia to Islamic nations . and are critical of activist initiatives that are based on inclusion into existing social institutions , because they see these themselves as damaging . Furthermore , they argue that ism and militarism do harm and can only contingently individual persons . Read In an article for , Growing Up Queer A Brief Lesson on and , Justin Allen talks about the social consequences of ( Using your own words , and ' Then explain the relationship between the terms . Do you think challenging is important ?

Why or why not ?

In the article , Allen states that one purpose of this post is to create a conversation about the complexities of the many people identities present to preconceived societal ideas . Have you ever felt that your identity challenged social norms ?

If so , describe how , and if not , explain why that might be the case . A political ideology that espouses economic , such as trade liberalization and deregulation , and small government . It accepts greater economic inequality and unionization .

36 Introduction to Studies Esteban An academic in the of performance studies , visual culture , queer theory , cultural studies , and critical theory . His book Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics ( 1999 ) uses performance studies to investigate the performance , activism , and survival of queer people of color . intersectional Overlapping or intersecting social identities , such as race , class , and gender , that are produced by social structures of inequality . Charlene Carruthers A Black queer feminist activist and organizer . Her work aims to create young leaders in marginalized communities to for community interests and liberation . public sphere Where identity should be abandoned to maintain the myth of universality . Figure . Esteban . From Queer A Graphic History by ohn Barker and , provided courtesy of Icon Books . Copyright Icon Books , reprinted with permission . QUEER POLITICS , TRANSFORMATIVE POLITICS Queer theorists like and are critical of assimilationist tics , but neither offers tangible suggestions for what a socially just and world might look like . Other queer theorists , particularly queer of color theorists , are doing the important work of imagining politics and society radically differently . Their scholarship gestures toward what a queerly transformed world might look like . Esteban work claims the future for queers ( He writes , The future is queerness domain . ness is a structuring and educated mode of desiring that allows us to see and feel beyond the quagmire of the present . 38 For , conditions of everyday life are simply not viable for queer people of color , which prompts many to imagine a transformed world . In Cruising Utopia The Then and There of Queer Futurity , explores the critical nation , which he refers to as transformative thought that can prompt and shape social change . This idea , along with intersectional theorization of oppression and social transformation , resonates with many other queer The activist Charlene Carruthers Unapologetic A Black , Queer , and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements the importance of intersectional thinking . She introduces a Black queer feminist lens , which she describes as a lens through which people and groups see to bring their full selves into the process of dismantling all systems of oppression . Whereas libertarian , conservative , and even liberal lesbian and gay groups seek to diminish the importance of sexual ( and other ) differences , Carruthers suggests that bringing a Black queer feminist lens to political thought and praxis renounces the notion of the public sphere as a place where identity should be abandoned to maintain the myth of Even more , her vision of activism BRINGING TOGETHER CRITICAL AND QUEER THEORY ENABLES Us To EX wHAT IT MEANS DISIDENTIFY WITH DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF ' ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE THAT ARE TYPICALLY MARGINALIzED .

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 37 queerness she demands that multiple types of oppression , types that will not be experienced the same way or even at all by the entire community , must be acknowledged to imagine and enact a truly formed , social world . Watch Charlene Carruthers ( describes the Black queer feminist lens in this video ( What is Carruthers referring to when she talks about telling more complete stories ?

Carruthers states that unless we move the margins into the center , none of us will be What does she mean by that statement ?

Carruthers presents an intersectional analysis in the video . For example , she says , You can not talk about racial justice without talking about economic justice . Describe and more fully Carruthers intersectional analysis , and be sure to cite statements she makes in the video as evidence . Figure . Charlene Carruthers . Photo by Lucy Hewitt . Courtesy of Charlene A . Carruthers .

38 Introduction to Studies Like , Carruthers emphasizes the importance of the Black imagination , the ability to imagine alternative economics , alternative family structures , or something else 42 This work can not be accomplished if groups like the , which has a clear capitalist agenda , shape public discourse about issues . In ter the Party A for Queer of Color , explores the affect music and art can have on audiences in an attempt to theorize the conditions necessary to envision collective change . He suggests that creative work can expand imaginative and prompt new modes of being together in the world . His project explores the ways subjects mobilize performance to survive the present , improvise new worlds , and sustain new ways of being in the world . Similar to and Carruthers , he argues that radical is the only way forward for queers of color . Instead of asking , How can we include queers in the existing social world , he asks , How can we queer the existing social world to make it habitable by queers ?

Additionally , like Carruthers , the queer sexual subject and queer theory to explore intersectional possibilities for speculative world making and practical activism . For him , experiencing performance allows audiences to rehearse new ways of seeing and being in the world together , which is why he emphasizes the importance of art and music . importantly , does not see art and as able to fulfill the promise of revolutionary transformative change instead , it is a site where possible worlds are imagined , but they must still be materially CONCLUSION This chapter maps the emergence of queer theory , over time and across disciplines , out of the lived experiences of diverse people . Both activism and theory are historically and geographically contingent , ered to time , space , and the material body in its . Queer theory is enough to account for differences of race , class , gender , and nation , although it does not always do so . It does , however , have at its founding , and through the twists and turns of its development , an ment in radical social change tethered to a belief that , because gender , sexual , and other forms of social hierarchy are reproduced and regulated through discourse and social institutions , those institutions can and must be changed for the better .

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 39 KEY QUESTIONS What are the differences between essentialist and theories of identity ?

Which perspective views identity as , or innate , and which perspective argues that identity is produced through social processes ?

What evidence does each perspective use to support its argument ?

What do we mean when we talk about gender and the implications of the constructionist turn ?

What are the similarities and differences between transgender studies and queer studies ?

Who are some of the key thinkers and activists who have contributed to these movements ?

What do we mean when we talk about intersectional , and how have they contributed to queer theory ?

Who are some important queer of color theorists we should know about ?

RESEARCH RESOURCES Compiled by Rachel Discuss Choose one or two resources listed in this chapter , and discuss them in relation to what you have learned about queer theory . Present Choose a key topic or event found in this chapter . Then locate one or two resources from the Quick Dip and Deep Dive sections and develop a presentation for the class . Explain the of the topic , and provide additional details that support your explanation . Create What idea , person , or event from this chapter really moved you ?

Do more research on that idea , person , or event based on the resources in this chapter . Then create your own artistic response . Consider writing a poem , drawing a picture , or creating a short video in a way that demonstrates both what you have learned and how you feel about the issue or person .

40 Introduction to Studies Debate With a partner or split into groups , choose a topic , idea , or controversy from this chapter . Have each partner or group present an opposing perspective on it . Use at least two of the chapters research resources to support your argument . QUICK DIP ONLINE RESOURCES Gender Critical , by is an irreverent Video essayist who explores gender identity and queer theory while using her extensive background in academic . In Gender Critical she addresses feminists ( Other Videos by the same essayist are at . My An independent documentary series , My explores gender Variance in short films ( Videos ) Queer Nation NY Queer Nation was the first national activist group to employ the term queer in its name . The group was founded by veterans from ACT UP , and the group activism enacted and enabled queer theory . Read about the groups history at . Queer Theory and Gender , by Paul Fry In this lecture at Yale University , the professor Paul Fry introduces Butler and Michel works on sexuality and gender ( Queer Theory Reading List , from Brown University This living list of queer scholarship includes many important texts (

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 41 DEEP DIVE BOOKS AND ARTICLES Aberrations in Black Toward a Queer of Color Critique , by Roderick Ferguson Roderick Ferguson analyzes how sociologists articulate theories of racial difference by using theories of sexuality . Ferguson demonstrates that predominantly white sociologists have used works by Richard Wright , Ralph Ellison , Toni Morrison , and other African American writers to theories about Black and therefore Black people ( University of Minnesota Press , 2003 ) Beautiful Bottom , Shame Where Black Meets Queer by Kathryn Bond In this Lambda Literary Award finalist and Modern Language Award winner for best essay in gay and lesbian studies , analyzes the embracing of shame among Black and queer people and the role of shame in fostering attraction , the arts , storytelling and recording of history , and camp ( Duke University Press , 2006 ) Black on the Outskirts of the Left A History of the Impossible , by Malik Gaines Malik Gaines expands on Butler theory of by depicting how artists , musicians , playwrights , and actors perform race , Black ical ideas , and resistance politics to disrupt mainstream views of race , gender , and sexuality . Because queer theory focuses on the interruption , disruption , and of whiteness and on patriarchy , and , this is a must read ( New York New York University Press , 2017 ) Crip Theory Cultural Signs and Disability , by Robert Robert is one of the founders of queer disability studies and a major contributor to the of transnational queer theory and ity theory . In this book he coins crip theory to describe the tion of disability , gender , and sexuality and an approach to critical disability theory , which encompasses queer theory . examines how dominant and marginal physical and sexual identities are

42 Introduction to Studies constructed , and he demonstrates through popular culture , politics , and higher education how disabilities and queerness disrupt and transform those identities ( New York New York University Press , 2006 ) Invisible Lives The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People , by Namaste Winner of the Myers Center Study of Human Rights ing Book Award , this book provides the scholarly study of trans people . In it , Namaste argues that trans people are erased rather than produced in a wide variety of institutional and cultural settings ( Chicago University of Chicago Press , 2000 ) Also , Namaste talks about the book and the struggles of transgender people in society in an interview ( Irresistible Revolution Confronting Race , Class , and the Assumptions Politics , by is a frequently cited attorney and leader of social justice movements . She applies queer theory to her activism and , pursuing the notion that equality will be achieved once and within the institutions of family , society , and government are interrupted , disrupted , and to become more inclusive of racial , gender , and economic diversity ( New York Magnus Books , 2012 ) My New Gender Workbook A Guide to Achieving World Peace through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity , by Kate Kate is a famous author , playwright , performance artist , actress , and gender theorist . She was one of the people to publicly identify as transgender , then later as and gender nonconforming . Her updated version of the classic My Gender Workbook ( 1997 ) is an , humorous , and interactive introduction to contemporary gender theory , as well as the intersection of gender , sexuality , and power ( New York , 2013 ) Nobody Passes Rejecting the Rules of Gender and , edited by Sycamore This anthology of essays explores the concept and act of passing , ing the visible and invisible systems of power involved in this

Thirty Years of Queer Theory mance ( CA Seal Press . 2006 ) Sycamore is also the author of the That Queer Strategies for Resisting ( New York Soft Skull Press , 2004 ) and Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots ?

Flaming Challenges to , and the Desire to Conform ( Oakland , CA AK Press , 2012 ) The Normalization of Queer Theory , by David David traces the origin of the term queer theory to Teresa de in 1990 in this 2003 article in the of Homosexuality ( volume 45 , numbers ) He major to a canon of works that built up the theory . is cofounder of A an and Gay Studies . Queer A Graphic History , by ohn Barker and Jules ohn Barker , an academic and activist , teamed up with the cartoonist in this graphic novel to illuminate the histories of queer thought and action ( London Icon Books , 2016 ) Queer Theory and the jewish Question , edited by Daniel , Daniel , and Ann This book is the compilation of essays to address the intersection of queer theory with identity , homophobia , and and the invention of the homosexual and the modern ew . The book includes essays written by Butler and Eve . The editors are scholars and authors of studies , queer theory , and religious studies ( New York Columbia University Press , 2003 ) Queer Theory for Everyone A Review Essay , by Sharon Marcus This 2005 article in Signs of Women in Culture and ( volume 31 , number ) covers the tory of queer theory and gives an overview of its origins . It explains the problematic and complicated histories of library of queer texts and includes an excellent bibliography of queer theorists . Queer Theory , Gender An Instant Primer , by The transgender activist wrote this classic work to make queer theory and gender theory accessible to a nonacademic

44 Introduction to Studies audience . It is a starting point for undergraduates ( New York Avenue Books , 2014 ) Queer Theory Revisited , by Michael This frequently cited essay challenges queer theorists to apply the ory to address the oppression , policing , and of people of color , the poor , and the colonized . is the to identify two schools of queer theory the separatist , which keeps race , class , and gender outside descriptions of sexuality , and the , which blurs these categories and may abandon the concept of identity altogether . His essay is included in Gay Latino Studies A Critical Reader , edited by and . Martinez ( Duke University Press , 2010 ) which won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for Best Anthology . Sexual Futures , Queer Futures , and other Latina Longings , by Maria Rodriguez Rodriguez the archetype of the gesturing emotional Latina femme to discuss how gestures and types of bodies inform sexual sures and practices , as well as sexual and gender identities ( New York New York University Press , 2014 ) This book won the Alan Bray Memorial Book Prize presented by the Gay Lesbian Queer Caucus of the Modern Language Association and was for the 2015 Lambda Literary Foundation Studies Award . Rodriguez is also author of Queer Identity Practices , Spaces ( New York New York University Press , 2003 ) A View from the Bottom Asian American and Sexual Representation , by Tan Tan male effeminacy and how it is in cinema , art , and pornography . challenges the concept of bottom as passive and shameful , transforming it into a sexual position , a social alliance , a romantic bond , and an art form . According to , this reinvention of the term bottom has the potential to interrupt , disrupt , and transform sexual , gender , and racial norms ( Duke University Press , 2014 )

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 45 GLOSSARY assimilationist . A strategy or one who enacts such strategy to gain access to , or assimilate into , existing social structures , like monogamous marriage or serving in the US . military . Charlene Carruthers . A Black queer feminist activist and organizer . Her work aims to create young leaders in marginalized communities to for community interests and liberation . constructionist . The View that identity is a sociocultural construct that identity formation . discourses . An institutionalized way of thinking and speaking , which creates a social boundary what can be said about a topic . Don Ask , Don Tell . The military policy on gays , bisexuals , and lesbians serving in the military , introduced in 1994 by Bill administration . The policy required gay , lesbian , and bisexual sons to remain closeted while in the military . In exchange , it the discrimination of closeted service persons . drag . Refers to the performance of femininity or masculinity , and is most frequently used to describe the performance of gender that differ from those associated with the performers natal sex assignment . drag queen . Most often someone who as a man who behaves in an exaggerated performance of femininity . Drag queens are often associated with gay culture . essentialist . The View of sexuality that assumes individuals sess a and innate sexual identity that is both universal and . Academics and activists use the term to discuss attempts by persons to assimilate into institutions like and the military that reproduce hierarchy and are associated with oppression . movement . Emerging in the United States and the United Kingdom in the , the movement was a concerted effort to demand equal rights for homosexuals . Human Rights Campaign . The largest advocacy group . It works for legal protections for persons , such as promoting legislation to prevent discrimination and hate crimes . intersectional . Overlapping or intersecting social identities , such as race , class , and gender , that are produced by social structures of inequality .

46 Introduction to Studies intersex . Persons who do not have chromosomes , gonads , or genitals that meet medical expectations and of sex within a binary system . A gender and queer theorist and author , perhaps best known for work on and female masculinity . Esteban . An academic in the of performance studies , visual culture , queer theory , cultural studies , and critical theory . His book Queers Color and the ) tics ( 1999 ) uses performance studies to investigate the performance , activism , and survival of queer people of color . A term introduced by Eve to describe the view of homosexuality as relevant only to homosexuals . This view sees homosexuals as a group of people , a minority , within a largely heterosexual world . A political ideology that espouses economic liberalism , such as trade liberalization and deregulation , and small government . It accepts greater economic inequality and unionization . The capacity of language and expressive actions to a type of being . public sphere . Where identity should be abandoned to maintain the myth of universality . marriage . The marriage of two people of the same sex or gender in a civil or religious ceremony . system . A phrase coined by Gayle Rubin to describe the social apparatus that oppresses women . sexology . The study of human sexuality , including human interests , behaviors , and functions . Susan Stryker . An American professor , author , and theorist whose work focuses on gender and human sexuality , and a founder of Transgender Studies . A term introduced by Eve to describe viewing sexuality and sexual as important to everyone , rather than focusing on homosexuals as a distinct group . NOTES . ACT UP New York ( website ) accessed March , 2021 , Teresa de , Queer Theory Lesbian and Gay , in issue , A journal Cultural Studies , no . 1991 ) iii . De , iii . De , vi .

Thirty Years of Queer Theory 47 . De , iv . Lisa , Making It Perfectly Queer , in Theorizing Feminism in the Humanities and Social Sciences , ed . Anne Herrmann and Abigail . Stewart ( Boulder , CO Press , 2001 ) 219 . Queer Theory An Introduction ( New York New York University Press , 1997 ) Making It Perfectly Queer , 225 . Michel , The History of Sexuality , vol . An Introduction , trans . Robert ( New York Vintage , 1990 ) 23 . David , One Hundred Years And Other Essays on Greek Love , illustrated edition ( New York , 1989 ) David , How to Do the History of Homosexuality ( Chicago University of Chicago Press , 2002 ) 10 . ohn Emilio , Capitalism and Gay Identity , in The Reader Culture , History , Political Economy , ed . Roger Lancaster and di Leonardo ( New York , 1997 ) 11 . Jonathan Ned , The Invention of , Socialist Review 20 ( March 1990 ) 12 . Eve , Epistemology of the Closet , ed . Berkeley University of California Press , 2008 ) 13 . Gayle Rubin , The Traffic in Women Notes on the Political Economy of Sex , in Women , Class and the Feminist Imagination , ed . Karen Hansen and . Philadelphia Temple University Press , 1990 ) 14 . Rubin , The in Women , 78 . 15 . Rubin , 79 . 16 . Anne , The Five Sexes Why Male and Female Are Not Enough , Sciences 33 , no . 1993 ) 17 . Suzanne . Kessler , Lessons from the ( New Brunswick , Rutgers University Press , 1998 ) 18 . Anne , The Five Sexes , Revisited , Sciences 40 , no . 2000 ) 19 . Esther Newton , Mother Camp Female Impersonators in America ( University of Chicago Press , 1979 ) 100 . 20 . Newton , Mother Camp , 103 . 21 . Butler , Gender Feminism and the Subversion Identity ( New York , 2006 ) 22 . Butler , Bodies That Matter On the Discursive Limits ( New York , 1993 ) 23 . Butler , Bodies That Matter . 24 . Jack , Female Masculinity ( Duke Press , 1998 ) 25 . 26 . Susan Stryker , De ) Subjugated An Introduction to gender Studies , in The Studies Reader , ed . Susan Stryker ( London , 2006 ) 27 . David Valentine , Imagining An Ethnography ofa Category ( Duke University Press , 2007 ) 33 . 28 . Leslie , Transgender Liberation A Movement Whose Time Has Come , in Stryker , The Studies Reader ,

48 Introduction to Studies 29 . Stephen Whittle , foreword to Stryker , The Studies Reader , xi . 31 . Leslie , Stone Butch Blues ( Los Angeles , CA Books , 1993 ) 32 . Kate , Gender Outlaw On Men , Women and the Rest Us ( New York Vintage , 1995 ) Gender Outlaw , 12 . 35 . About , Human Rights Campaign , accessed May 12 , 2021 , 36 . Lisa , The New The Sexual Politics of liberalism , in Materializing Democracy Toward a Revitalized Cultural Politics , ed . Russ and Dana Nelson ( Duke University Press , 2002 ) 37 . Terrorist in Queer ( Duke University Press , 2007 ) 38 . Esteban , Cruising Utopia The Then and There of Queer Futurity ( New York New York University Press , 2009 ) Cruising Utopia . 40 . Charlene Carruthers , Unapologetic A Black , Queer , and Feminist date for Radical Movements ( Boston , MA Beacon Press , 2018 ) 10 . 41 . Carruthers , 10 . 42 . Carruthers , 39 . 43 . Joshua , ter the Party A for Queer of Color Life ( New York New York University Press , 2018 ) 44 . 33 .