It may not be redistributed or altered. A term introduced by Eve Sedgwick to describe the view of homosexuality as relevant only to homosexuals. The U.S. militarys policy on gays, bisexuals, and lesbians serving in the military, introduced in 1994 by Bill Clintons administration. ACT UP New York (website), accessed March 8, 2021. [18] Most queer theoretical engagements with gender deprivilege 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. Furthermore, they argue that capitalism and militarism do harm and can only contingently benefit individual LGBTQ+ persons. Icon Books is licensed under a, Figure 1.4 Icon Books is licensed under a, Figure 1.5. Here it is important to distinguish between sexual identities and sexual practices. in context of AIDS) and the need for strong attachment to cultural objects whose meaning seemed mysterious, excessive, or obliquesites where the meanings didnt line up tidily with each other, and we learned to invest those sites with fascination and love (5);the challenges and rawness of opening conversations and classes that focus on gay and lesbian studies in academia; critiquing the construction of monolithic categories where everything means the same thing i.e., family, sexuality, queer; a description of her own projects in process; her personal situation that includes both illness and existentialism brought on by breast cancer in her forties and real outrage from the outside directed ather work as an academic studying literature and sexuality; the politics and perversity of feminist and leftist intellectualism vs. an increasingly anti-intellectual right; the resentment directed at academics who work outside of thepurely bureacratic time =money = productivity oriented workforce and the privileges of academics to take pleasure in their work; and finally, confronting the fears that PC culture will result in some kind of doctrine or propaganda, instead of an awakening and acknowledgment of what has always been. Figure 1.1. Lesbian and gay studies assumed clear subjects of analysislesbians and gayswho were studied as historical, cultural, or literary figures of significance to reclaim a forgotten past and create a sense of collective identity and continuity in the present. Working from classic texts of European and American writers . Axiom 1 - and I still smile at. In more practical terms, this means that the act of identifying homosexuality and homosexual life as other has subordinated it to and coerced it into navigating a world that has been organized to favor heterosexual individuals. He suggests that creative work can expand imaginative possibilities and prompt new modes of being together in the world. This book is the first compilation of essays to address the intersection of queer theory with Jewish identity, homophobia, and anti-Semitism and the invention of the homosexual and the modern Jew. The universalizing view, in contrast, sees sexuality and sexual definition as important to everyone. For instance, the cultural anthropologist Gayle Rubins essay The Traffic in Women: Notes on the Political Economy of Sex sought to identify the origin of womens oppression across cultures. He argues that medical discourse, particularly the field of sexology, which applies scientific 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, particularly the homosexual. Power in this instance belonged to medical and legal authorities. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images. Similar to Muoz and Carruthers, he argues that radical transformation is the only way forward for queers of color. The cultural anthropologist Esther Newton publishedMother Camp: Female Impersonators in America, a groundbreaking ethnography of drag culture in 1972. A term introduced by Eve Sedgwick to describe viewing sexuality and sexual definition as important to everyone, rather than focusing on homosexuals as a distinct group. I will begin my summary with the editors' conclusion, where they offer Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick as a final example of . Other videos by the same essayist are at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNvsIonJdJ5E4EXMa65VYpA. Robert McRuer is one of the founders of queer disability studies and a major contributor to the fields of transnational queer theory and disability theory. In the last segment of her argument, Sedgwick meditates on political correctness and the origin of this term. Print. The text is a progression of the analysis in Sedgwicks previous work on homosocial relationships, Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire. The book includes essays written by Judith Butler and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. With marked tenderness, the contributors to Reading . Geographer Michael Brown has criticized Sedgwick's 'closet' as a term for spatial metaphor. Queer & Now by Michael Johnson - Prezi Charlene A. Carruthers. Office: Leonard 209B. Sedgwick, Eve. At the end of the 14 . [4] In addition to sexuality, de Lauretis hoped queer theory would identify and trouble other constructed silencesfor instance, those of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. If so, describe how, and if not, explain why that might be the case. Persons who do not have chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that meet medical expectations and definitions of sex within a binary system. Black Performance on the Outskirts of the Left: A History of the Impossible, by Malik Gaines. Marriage Isn't Enough To Define Queer Lives Yet It Is An Essential It is an ambitious essay divided into short sections that cover topics ranging from high suicide rates among gay, lesbian, and queer adolescents; the relationship between rhetoric supporting the concealment and/or extinction of gay or queer identifying individuals and the policies of institutions and social systems; the threats directed at queer Sedgwicks deconstructivist approach shows us that any social binary that defines subjects in society (especially the binary of heterosexual/homosexual) is not a relation of symmetry between two terms. An academic in the fields of performance studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. assimilationist. He interprets sexual histories through a queer lens that does not assume that identities and experiences are universal. She argues that sex exists as a spectrum between female and male with a minimum of five distinct categories. Summarize the personal, theoretical, and political differences of the homophile, gay liberation, radical feminism, LGBTQ+ rights, and queer movements. What issues and whose interests does the HRC most seem to represent? A term introduced by Eve Sedgwick to describe viewing sexuality and sexual definition as important to everyone, rather than focusing on homosexuals as a distinct group. In Chapter 1, Sedgwick takes up the notion of the closet, its relationship to what is known and unknown regarding the sexual identity of oneself and another, and its relationship to the private and public lives of gay people. Additionally, as of June 26, 2015, same-sex marriageis legal in the United States. Queer theories of gender have influenced scholars across disciplines, radically transforming how we think about gender. Sedgwick's "Queer and Now": Queer Theory at its Mo More circles, More anxiety: An Exploration of Mich What is woman? During this interrogation, Billy finds himself speechless and in a moment of paralysis lashes out at Claggart and inadvertently kills him. In Melvilles novella, the story is set against a backdrop of recent mutinies against several ships in the British navy. (LogOut/ He writes, The future is queernesss domain. Describe the relationship among LGBTQ+ history, political activism, and LGBTQ+ studies. Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick was an American academician specializing in literary criticism and feminist analysis; she is known as one of the architects of queer theory. By evoking the images of the countless teenagers who commit suicide each year due to the manner in which society condemns their identity, the individuals for whom Christmas -a holiday itself constituted in the image of the family- is a time of exclusion from a grand sense of unity rather than a source of joy, and the people who struggle to hold onto life in the face of physically devastating illnesses while simultaneously having death wished upon them from members of society who regard them as filth, Sedgwick ensures her readers never lose sight of the tangible stakes of her argument (6) As the introduction comes to a close, her meditation on the anti-intellectualism of our age made me realize just how much her ideas affect my own life in ways I never had realized. Although this interpretationis certainly supported by the text, I wonder if it really captures the nuance of what Sedgwick is trying to do. PDF WGSS 392Q Introduction to Queer Theory - UMass Butler states that there is a difference between saying that gender is performed as opposed to saying gender is performative. The largest U.S.-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group. What do we mean when we talk about intersectional analyses, and how have they contributed to queer theory? Search for other works by this author on: This content is made freely available by the publisher. The short introduction in theQueer Studies Readerstates that Sedgwicks purpose in the piece is toargue against the monolithic understandings of sexuality that presume sexual identity as a static identity category (3). According to Foucault, power is everywhere, although it is not evenly dispersed. Her scholarship appears in the Journal of Homosexuality, the European Journal of American Studies, Fast Capitalism, and other journals and edited collections. A look back at the undergraduate years of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, '71, a founder of queer theory, reveals a unique glimpse of where that shock wave first began. 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. Icon Books is licensed under a. Queer Theory Revisited, by Michael Hames-Garca. Though I am not nave enough to have come into this class with no understanding of the political roots of Queer Theory, when working through dense and highly theoretical language it is remarkably easy to forget these issues affect all peoples daily lives, and impact many individuals in dramatic and heartbreaking ways. The book bridges the gap between theory and practice by analyzing homoerotic relationships in literary and philosophical history, thereby calling social and political attention to a systemically marginalized group. What hopes do you have for the future of gender? 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). For Foucault, power does not repress a preexisting sexual identity; it provides the conditions needed for sexual identities to multiply. When Sedgwick arrived at Cornell in 1967, she had yet to make her mark on the literary world. His project explores the ways minoritarian subjects mobilize performance to survive the present, improvise new worlds, and sustain new ways of being in the world.[43]. It begins by elaborating on distinctions between gay and lesbian studies and queer studies before identifying important trends in queer theory. 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. intersex. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. This frequently cited essay challenges queer theorists to apply the theory to address the oppression, policing, and marginalization of people of color, the poor, and the colonized. Kevin Bacon & Kyra Sedgwick dance it out for the ACLU's Drag Defense This living list of queer scholarship includes many important intersectional texts (https://www.brown.edu/campus-life/support/lgbtq/graduate-student-resources/queer-theory-reading-list). Instead, we are all citing, at times contesting, at others complying with, existing ideas about gender and sexuality. Gender always reveals the preference to heterosexual because the social institution makes gendershow more content Full video transcript available in the appendix. Both Rubins work and Fausto-Sterlings early work leave a nature-nurture binary in place and suggest that sex correlates with nature and gender correlates with nurture. The view that identity is a sociocultural construct that influences identity formation. An academic in the fields of performance studies, visual culture, queer theory, cultural studies, and critical theory. The scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. Epistemology of the Closet Summary and Study Guide | SuperSummary All rights reserved. She introduces the terms minoritizingand universalizingto describe competing and coexisting understandings of homosexuality that shape how we imagine sexuality. Describe that difference in your own words. Free shipping for many products! sexology. Roderick A. Ferguson analyzes how sociologists articulate theories of racial difference by using theories of sexuality. Halberstam convincingly claims, Masculinity must not and cannot and should not reduce down to the male body and its effects.[25] Like many queer theorists engaging gender, Halberstam deemphasizes genitals, refocusing on gender expressions. Sedgwick's "Queer and Now": Queer Theory at its Most Tangible In "Queer and Now" Sedgwick manages to accomplish something none of the philosophers we have studied thus far have rigorously attempted. Charlene Carruthers (figure 1.8) describes the Black queer feminist lens in this video. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sings "American Pie" by Don McLean alongside U.S. President Joe Biden during a state dinner at the White House on Wednesday. In the third chapter, Sedgwick underscores the way in which homophobic anxieties have come to be embedded at the heart of heterosexual identity during the end of the 1800s and through the work of Wilde and Nietzsche. Review of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet (1990) [At Gay Book Reviews] One of the most influential books on queer theory. A Black queer feminist activist and organizer. The view of sexuality that assumes individuals possess a fixed and innate sexual identity that is both universal and transhistorical. For instance, a primary benefit of marriage is access to health insurance, but one partner must have health insurance for marriage to help a couple in this way. Again, her argument against attempting to list ones familial identity and relationships to others is particularly useful. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. However, according to Puar, This benevolence towards sexual others is contingent upon ever-narrowing parameters of white racial privilege, consumption capabilities, gender and kinship normativity, and bodily integrity.[37] Puar further argues that welcoming some queers into national life requires queerness to be projected onto other bodies. 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 performers natal sex assignment. Queer critics of the HRC maintain that the organization has a limited vision of human rights, is procapitalist, and supports bills that fail to include transgender personsfor example, the proposed 2007 Employment Non-discrimination Act. However, as a consequence, new lines and divisions were drawn between heterosexual and homosexual life, and heterosexuality was able to secure its non-homosexual status through measured displays of affection or sentimentality. Email: lothian at iup dot edu. Tan Hoang Nguyen reassesses male effeminacy and how it is racialized in cinema, art, and pornography. In a video in the InQueery series by them, Tyler Ford explains the history behind the word queer (https://youtu.be/UpE0u9Dx_24). A View from the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation, by Tan Hoang Nguyen. Uniformed Gender: Challenging the Social Constructs of a Subculture. Her many publications include A Dialogue On Love (Beacon, 1999); Fat Art/Thin Art (Duke, 1994); Tendencies (Duke, 1993); and Epistemology of the Closet (California, 1990). (LogOut/ The capacity of language and expressive actions to produce a type of being. Nguyen 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. On the contrary, societal binaries are two terms constituted by a relation of asymmetry such that one term presides and subordinates the other. In the late 1990s, several critics took the opportunity to reflect on the relations between feminism, lesbian studies and queer theory. However, perhaps her discussion of her struggle with breast cancer and how it affects her gender and sexual identity, a necessary and poignant tale in itself, may have been better developed and resonated in a separate memoir-centered piece in Tendencies. Epistemology of the Closet, published in 1990 in the midst of the AIDS epidemic, is a seminal work of queer studies by intellectual and activist Eve Sedgwick. Jennifer Miller earned a PhD in cultural studies from George Mason University and an MA in literary and cultural studies from Carnegie Mellon University. The policy required gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons to remain closeted while in the military. Many express criticism that groups like the HRC have become representative voices of the LGBTQ+ community and are failing to represent its most vulnerable members. This view sees homosexuals as a specific group of people, a minority, within a largely heterosexual world. Free shipping for many products! Published by Duke University Press 1983 Queer and Now From the book Tendencies Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822381860-002 Cite this 2 You currently have no access to view or download this content. They know that the possession of one type of genital equipment by no means guarantees the naturally appropriate behavior.[20]. Paranoid Reading, Reparative Reading, and Queering - Academia.edu Social constructionism also influenced understandings of gender. By refusing to accept that there is a right way to be transgender and encouraging coalition building under the newly flexible term transgender, Feinberg hoped transgender persons could build a transformative activism-oriented community. Why or why not? This can be seen in the early homophile movement, which refers to late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century homosexual rights activism that emerged in tandem and entwined with sexology and anti-sodomy laws. Eve Sedgwick, a literary theorist, continues the project of troubling both homosexuality and heterosexuality in her 1990 publicationEpistemology of the Closet, which is widely recognized as a foundational queer theory text (figure 1.2).

Peter Connolly Obituary, Cerritos Election Results 2022, Lancaster Mennonite Conference Bishops, Articles Q