RE: THE USES OF "QUEER":
Some argue that the re-introduction of the word "Queer" into
contemporary gay and lesbian politics dates back to the mid-80s when
the political action group "Queer Nation" split from ACT UP. ACT UP,
the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power focused principally on the AIDS
crisis, while some of its members also wanted to focus on issues
surrounding gay and lesbian political identity and human rights. Queer
Nation was thus formed and represented, perhaps for the first time,
the re-claiming of the word "Queer" from homophobic disourse back into
the disourse of gay and lesbina identity. I suppose in the beginning,
the principle was simple: If you claim the epithet as your own, if you
OWN it without shame, it ceases to be a homophobic weapon and becomes
a political weapon, an identity marker, a tool.
Of course, there has been much debate, especially in the emerging
field (some might argue that the field is already well emerged) of
"Queer Theory" concerning the re-claiming of the word "queer" since so
many believe that it is difficult to simply erase teh decades of pain
implied by the term. For a better understadning of the debate, the
reclamation of the word, and its uses in gay/bi/lesbian/transgender
discourse. read Judith Butler's "Imitation and Gender Subordination"
in Diana Fuss' anthology _Inside-Out_, Butler's book, _Gender
Trouble_, and Eve Kosovsky Sedgwick's "Critically Queer" in one of the
first few volumes of GLQ (The Gay and Lesbian Quarterly). Butler and
Sedgwick are two of the leading authorities on Queer Theory.
The word "Queer" has also been adopted by many gay and lesbian
theorists because of its seeming inclusivity. It often becomes
tiresome to label organizations that focus in GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER issues with all of THESE words' multiple valences
(transvestites, transexxuals, corss-dreassers, drag queens,
dykes,lesbians, femmes, butches, , etc, etc ,etc) The word QUEER has
thus been used to identify ALL of those people who identify as being
part of this very large and diverse community of people with (some)
similar goals/needs/agendas. It is all very very complicated and I am
merely trying to condense it all very quickly. For a MUCH MUCH better
history of the term and its various supporters and skeptics, see
Butler and Sedgwick (Judith Butler is a Professor of Rhetoric at UC
Berkeley and Eve Sedwick is a Professor of English Literature at
Duke).
NOTE: the word "Queer" does NOT really operate in the same way as
"NWA" does in the African-American community (I am not even sure if
"NWA" even HAS a place in the Afro-Am community) EXCEPT in the sense
that it is STILL derogatory for non-Queer people to use the word as an
epithet. It is fine to refer to the "Queer Community" or even in a
friendly context to refer to someone gay /bi/lesbian as "Queer." But
it is still very painful and insulting to call someone "QUEER!" or "A
QUEER" or "YOU QUEER."
I hope this has been helpful.
Please drop me a note with your responses, I am doing a great deal of
graduate reasearch in Queer Theory and am curious to hear your
responses/reactions/replies.
My email address is:
[log in to unmask]
All best,
Kevin Lind
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Re[2]: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Audiences
Author: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> at Internet
Date: 10/7/95 11:22 AM
As a recent refugee from a graduate program, I was very interested to see
that some museums -- most, notably, not in the U.S. -- had adopted the
term "Queer" already. "Queer Theory" is a growing critical movement, and many
gay, lesbian and bisexual academics have re-claimed the word.
Several groups within the Gay Right Movement have also reclaimed the word.
At last summer's March on Washington for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Rights,
some of the marchers chanted "We're Here, We're Queer..." I guess you
could say that it has become a political force on both the grassroots and
the academic levels.
I do understand the hesitation and the discomfort with adopting a word
that has had a negative connotation for so many years.
Denise D. Meringolo
On Fri, 6 Oct 1995, Eric Siegel wrote:
> Wow! I thought "queer" was still an insult: something gay people
> sometimes ironically called themselves (analagous to "NWA"
> Niggers with Attitude), but generally considered rude at best.
>
> Did I miss something? Or is it different in PNG?
>
> Eric Siegel
> [log in to unmask]
>
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