Transcript queer theory

Queer Theory
Homosexuality
• Homosexuality refers to the
sexual orientation where a
person prefers members of
his/her own gender (and
not the opposite gender)
when forming romantic
and/or sexual relationships.
Is it a Choice?
Criteria for Classifying Individuals as Gay, Lesbian,
or Bisexual
• Sexual attraction and/or sexual
involvement to persons of one’s
own gender
• Self-identification
as a gay man, lesbian,
or bisexual
The language of sexuality
What is Homophobia?
• The irrational and
excessive fear or
intolerance of
homosexuals and
homosexuality.
Examples of Homophobia
• Making
assumptions about
a person being
lesbian or gay
based on dress,
behavior, or
personality.
Homophobia is…
Feeling repulsed by displays
of affection between samegender couples, but accepting
affectionate displays between
different-gender couples.
Homophobia is…
Thinking of people who are
lesbian and gay only in terms of
their sexuality, rather than as
whole, complex persons.
You might be homophobic if you:
• Avoid social situations
or activities where you
might be perceived as
lesbian or gay.
• Assume that lesbians
and gay men will be
attracted to everyone
of the same sex
Why are People Homophobic?
• Religion: Many people adhere to strong religious
beliefs which disapprove of sex and/or
homosexuality.
• Education: The lower a person's level of educational
attainment and social class the more negative their
attitudes are towards homosexuality
• Exposure: Others have little/no social contact with
openly lesbian or gay people
How Homophobia Hurts
Everyone
• Homophobia:
• prevents many men from having close relationships with
other men because they are scared/worried of being
perceived as gay
• locks people into rigid gender-based roles that restrict
creativity and self-expression.
• pushes heterosexual men to constantly prove their
masculinity.
How Homophobia Hurts Everyone
Homophobia:
• Prevents school-based sex education from being
incorporated
• Prevents many gays/lesbians from having an
authentic self-identity.
Homophobia in Film:
The Celluloid Closet
• There are many
controversies over
Hollywood’s negative
depiction of
homosexuality.
• Since the 1990s,
Hollywood has improved
its portrayal of gay and
lesbian characters.
• But despite these
advances, critics say that
the industry is still too
cautious in its portrayals
of gay themes, characters,
and experiences.
Homophobia and Film
Homophobia on Television
• Many people see the
success of Queer as Folk
and the L Word as
evidence that gay shows
can still be enormously
popular and profitable.
However, advertisers and
sponsors have been and
still are cautious about
affiliating themselves
with such cutting-edge
programming.
• Networks are willing to
feature gay characters, as
long as the shows draw
high ratings, and generate
profits for advertisers.
• Daytime and nighttime
soap operas are also
beginning to include
storylines of gays and
lesbians
But while times are changing and
Hollywood is showing more positive
images of gays and lesbians, and legal
systems are recognizing gays/lesbians
as persons protected under law,
homophobia is still rampant in our
society.
Queer Literary Theory
Queer theorists analyze texts -- which can
be anything from Wuthering Heights to TV
sitcoms -- with an eye to exposing
underlying meanings, distinctions, and
relations of power in the larger culture that
produced the texts.
The result of analyzing literature,
television, and film has identified:
* complicated cultural strategies for
the regulation of sexual behavior
* an oppression of those who don’t
conform to heterosexual norms or
who don't conform to culturally
sanctioned gender roles.
* Only partially based on
gay, lesbian and
bisexual issues, a queer
literary interpretation
is largely concerned
with sexual identity,
especially "closeted"
(hidden) sexual
identity.
* This was the original
intent of queer theory.
When did Queer Literary Theory Emerge?
 This school of literary
and cultural criticism
emerged in the U. S. in
the mid-1980s and
owes its intellectual
roots to feminist
theory and to French
philosophers like
Jacques Derrida and
Michel Foucault.
Essentialism & Social
Constructivism
• In feminist theory, essentialism is against
feminist thought while social constructs are the
basis of feminist thought
• In queer theory essentialism is the basis of the
theory while social constructivism is against the
theory
What is Queer Reading?
• A “queer reading” is an
analysis that's not widely
considered to be
conventional.
• In other words, a queer
reading of a straight text is
seeking an interpretation
which the author may not
have intended, but one that
stands out to you.
What is Queer Reading?
• When lesbian and gay readers found no positive
images to confirm their position in the culture,
they rework existing “heterosexualized” texts to
accommodate them.
• Texts only have truth and power when we allow
them to do so;
• queering recognizes and plays with this “social”
reality of texts.
What is Queer Reading?
• Current applications of queer theory to literature and film
also consider the heterosexualized norms that may be
perpetuated or challenged.
So, who are the
Important Queer Theorists?
Judith Butler
• Judith Butler is a pivotal figure in early
queer theory, particularly with the
publishing of Gender Trouble
• Butler argues in Gender Trouble that sex, gender, and
sexuality are culturally constructed
• There are "disciplinary regimes" that decide in advance
what possibilities of sex, gender, and sexuality are socially
permitted to appear as "natural."
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
• American theorist in the fields of gender studies, queer
theory, and critical theory.
• In her most famous work, Epistemology of the Closet,
Sedgwick disagrees strongly with those who separate
gays and straights as "distinct kinds of persons," with
no common humanity.
Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
• She connects the fears of same-sex
relationships to contemporary gay-bashing
and obvious displays of heterosexual or
"macho" attitudes.
• Sedgwick’s ultimate thesis is that
homo/hetero distinction compete with
gender, class and race in determining "all
modern Western identity and social
organization."
Important Queer Terms
Slash Fiction
Slash fiction rewrites
straight relationships to
be homosexual, bisexual,
and queer in sort of a
campy cultural
appropriation.
BTW: Did you know
Batwoman is a lesbian?
Sexuality
 Attitudes, beliefs, and
practices related to
sexual attraction and
intimate relationships
with others.
Sexual Orientation
• Preference for
emotional-sexual
relationships with
individuals of the
“same” sex
(homosexuality), the
“opposite” sex
(heterosexuality), or
both (bisexuality
Heterosexism
 The belief that
heterosexuality is the
only normal, natural,
and moral mode of
relating, and hence is
superior to
homosexuality or
bisexuality.
Questions Queer Theorists Ask about
Literature
Queer Questions
 What does the work
tell the reader about
the author's sexual
identity?
 How might the
author's sexual identity
affect different aspects
of work?
Queer Questions
 Does the work perpetuate or
challenge heterosexual norms?
 When present are gay
characters represented as
stereotypes or does the
character challenge sexuality
and gender role stereotypes?
Queer Questions
 What doesn't the
author tell the reader
about the sexual
identities of his or her
characters? How is this
omission significant?
Queer Questions
• What aspects of the
work has the author
silenced or closeted, in
order to gain the
approval of society?
Useful Links
•
Theory.org http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-quee.htm
•
Queer Theory
http://www.queertheory.com/theories/queer/default.htm
•
Queer Frontiers
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/queerfrontiers/page1.html
•
LGBT Resources in Higher Education
http://www.lgbtcampus.org/resources/lgbt_studies.html