Heteronormativity & Queer Engagements

Diana Fuss

Inside/Out (1991) - Analyzed the heterosexual/homosexual binary using Derrida's idea of the supplement - Heteronormativity as Binary Constructed around binaries: superior vs inferior Binaries acquire their hierarchical structure through their interdependence with supporting binary oppositions - "Coming out" "outness" is limited since it reinforces the heteronormative hierarchical position Marginalizes those in the closet

Discourse Analysis

Interrogation of Texts What is the version of reality? What are the cultural assumptions? What are the contradictions? What is excluded, included, and privileged? What does the text affect?

Jack Halberstam

values "low" theory and culture and highly as it does "high" theory and culture. Academic theories and pop culture should be treated the same. The Queer Art of Failure (2011) - looks to low culture for alternatives to heteronormative understandings of what counts as "success". Eg. Of LOW "Dude What's my Car" challenges heteronormativity Stupidity & blackout (of dominant culture), ignores racism sexism homophobia of the past Eg. "Finding NEMO" Relationships are formed that are not constrained by biology, romantic love, or linear time

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

"How to Bring your Kids up Gay" (1991): - Inextricable link between binary sexuality and gender Acceptable homosexuality is based on gender conformity The effeminate child is stigmatized and pathologized - The Epistemology of the Closet (1990) Gender and sexuality need to be disentangled. Sex should be considered in relation to other dimensions and not just the current one: GENDER - The Nature vs Nurture Binary Nature: eugenics - homosexuality is a genetic disorder that must be eradicated Nurture: homosexuality is a disease that requires medical help Biological "explanations" of sexuality generally explain homosexuality in terms of excess or deficiency, and never endeavor to explain why people are heterosexual

Eugenics Era America

(early 1900s) [p-value is named after Pearson, a eugenicist that developed descriptive statistics] Race + sexuality: White homosexual men were seen as a waste of white stock Race+ gender: White women could lose their citizenship, if they married outside of their race Gender, sexuality, and race costruct the norm! "Straight White Male" All other "racial" categories are in reference to the norm.

Alexander Doty (Queer theorist)

- Challenges analyses done in lesbian and gay studies - Anybody could experience queer moments when engaging with texts, and they could happen in otherwise heteronormative texts

Queer Theory & Biology

A very different queer engagement to that with pop culture has been the burgeoning of what we might call queer biology Alfred Kinsey "the Gay Brain" study Nature vs Nurture [queer theory don't like any of those! Pure skepticism]

Patrick Johnson

Black Queer Studies & Queer Studies

Biological Sex

Anne Fausto-Sterling Sexing the Body (2000) Found diverse variations in sex/gender in humans There is biological diversity associated with sex/gender stereotypes Biological sex and gender roles Cordelia Fine "Delusions of Gender" (2010) Gender performativity primes neural connections Biology & Gender - biopsychosocial model How do social world, psychology, and biology operate together to produce gender and sexual fluidity and diversity? These approaches are overlapping and intrinsically linked. Sari van Anders - sexual configurations theory Rejects biological essentialism, reductionism, and determinism Our neuroendocrinology can both influence behavior and/or be altered by it We all have unique sexual configuration (rather than a shared sexual orientation).

Cordelia Fine

Biological sex and gender roles Cordelia Fine "Delusions of Gender" (2010) Gender performativity primes neural connections

Critical Sexology

Brings in queer theory into conversation with both the study and practice of sexology Common features - Bringing together work from across multiple disciplines - Non-pathologizing and non-essentializing stances - Emphasizing diversity - Seeing all forms of sexuality and sexual representations - normative and non-normative - as equally subject to academic scrutiny - Locating all identities and practices within wider social structures and power dynamics - An ethics of accountability to those being represented in research and theory Research on kink or BDSM Challenged the previous sexology focus on delineating normal from abnormal (paraphilic) forms of sex Open non-monogamy Mononormativity vs openly non-monogamous relationships Has sex positivity simply replaced sex negativity, in a binary fashion? Queering Sex Therapists Heteronormativity (sexual dysfunction) Understanding sex as a lived experience Understanding difficulties in the context of a Master Narrative

Critical Race Theory

Derrick Bell [Harvard Law School - 1970s] Race, Racism, and American Law Supreme Court - 1978 Bakke v University of California on Affirmative Action Diversity is an illusion that makes things seem like they are getting better. Progress was invariably met with reversal Desegregation (1960s-70s) was reversed --> eradicated (1990s)! Kimberle Crenshaw Formed an informal class when Bell was not at Harvard to discuss how to move forward with Civil Rights and address problems related to civil rights "University of Chicago Legal Forum" (1989) "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics" People who belong to more than one marginalized class create a "blind spot" for anti-discrimination laws

Jose Esteban Munoz

Disidentify with Different Aspects of Identity

Queer Theory Founders - Key Concepts

Embedded within present economic and cultural power structures Identity is neither fixed nor essential but reinforced via repeated performances - Normatives are structured around binaries -- kept in place through associations between binary oppositions. - That all of this is embedded within current economic and social structures and how power operates within these.

Derrick Bell

Founder of CRT [Harvard Law School - 1970s] Race, Racism, and American Law Supreme Court - 1978 Bakke v University of California on Affirmative Action Diversity is an illusion that makes things seem like they are getting better. Progress was invariably met with reversal Desegregation (1960s-70s) was reversed --> eradicated (1990s)!

Predecessors of heteronormativity

Homophobia Heterosexism - having to decide whether to come out or remain closeted (both stressful) - having sexuality assumed to be the totality of who you are - Sexuality is the basis on which to question masculinity/femininity (Male &) Straight privilege - Peggy McIntosh, feminist and anti-racism activist on male & white privilege Checklist: - Sexuality is surely represented - Sexuality is not attacked by everyday phrases - Not asked to speak for one's sexuality - Not having to tell anyone about one's sexuality, it's assumed Problems with privilege - Struggle to maintain a normal appearance - Struggle to keep with ever-changing cultural assumptions of heteronormativity - Guilt from recognizing one's privilege

heteronormativity

Michael Warner (1991) popularized this term, drawing on Rubin's sex hierarchy & Rich's compulsory heterosexuality. Heteronormativity - a set of related cultural assumptions: The norm is attraction and relationships between a man and a woman Embodiment of conventional gender roles Sex is defined as PIV sex (the man's penis penetrates the woman's vagina) All other genders and sexualities are not normal/natural. People are heterosexual, unless proven otherwise!!!

Heteronormativity is neither good nor bad, inclusive of many other normativities:

Monosexism: people are normally/naturally attracted to only one gender Sexual imperative, or compulsory sexuality: people normally or naturally experience - and act upon - sexual attraction Mononormativity: the normal or natural way of relating is the monogamous couple Cisnormativity: people normally/naturally remain in the gender they were assigned at birth Queer Perspective: None of these concepts are right/wrong. They each open/close different possibilities.

CRT + QT

Patrick Johnson - Black Queer Studies & Queer Studies Jose Esteban Munoz - Disidentify with Different Aspects of Identity Scott Morgensen - Post-colonialism and murder of two-spirit indigenous people Well these are still only covering a certain dimension... Intersectionality can have many dimensions! cass, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, nationality

Scott Morgensen

Post-colonialism and murder of two-spirit indigenous people

Peter Hegarty

Psychological journal articles assume a male, heterosexual norm, and explain women/gay differences as deviations from that norm People are no less homophobic if they believe in nature over nurture.

Gloria Anzaldua

Race categories is one way in which people are categorized and policed!

Anne Fausto-Sterling

Sexing the Body (2000) Found diverse variations in sex/gender in humans There is biological diversity associated with sex/gender stereotypes

Queer Theory Critiques

Why is race not included in the discourse of Queer Theory? Teresa de Lauretis, Gloria Anzaldua: Race categories is one way in which people are categorized and policed! Eugenics Era America (early 1900s) [p-value is named after Pearson, a eugenicist that developed descriptive statistics] Race + sexuality: White homosexual men were seen as a waste of white stock Race+ gender: White women could lose their citizenship, if they married outside of their race Gender, sexuality, and race construct the norm! "Straight White Male" All other "racial" categories are in reference to the norm. Critical Race Theory

Nature vs Nurture

[queer theory don't like any of those! Pure skepticism] Nature - Essentialist views on fixed identities - Reductionist views that reduce all gender/sexuality experience to our biology - Deterministic views whereby gender/sexuality is determined by genetics, hormones and/or physiology Nurture - Queer theory denaturalizes social categories - Identities are rooted in aspects of development - Essentialist reductionist deterministic

CAMP

involves explicit parody, exaggeration, theatricality, irony, and humor Representations have the potential to demonstrate performativity of gender & sexuality, and disrupt normative representations Disruption of the heteronormative Auntie Mame (1958) Has it lost it's critical edge? "Hairspray" 1988 Johnny Guitar (1954) The man is emotional, while the woman is being violent.

Queering

queer reading/analysis There is never one "true" reading of any text - not even the one the author intended. Sexual Complexity in heteronormative spaces Eg. "Jane Austen and the Masturbating Girl" by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick --> uncovering homoeroticism and sexual complexity in the parts of a text previously seen as catering to heteronormative standards Eg. Emily Dickinson's poetry "limited to subliminal homoeroticism" Eg. "I Love Lucy" --> women's pleasure in each other between best friends Lucy and Ethel Alexander Doty (Queer theorist) - Challenges analyses done in lesbian and gay studies - Anybody could experience queer moments when engaging with texts, and they could happen in otherwise heteronormative texts

Sari van Anders

sexual configurations theory Rejects biological essentialism, reductionism, and determinism Our neuroendocrinology can both influence behavior and/or be altered by it We all have unique sexual configuration (rather than a shared sexual orientation).