Queer Listening as a Framework for Teaching Men and Masculinities

Abstract

This chapter uses the theoretical resources of queer theory and rhetoric to argue in favor of the pedagogy of “queer listening” as the best way to advance a transformative feminist agenda within the context of teaching a critical masculinity studies course. As an approach to pedagogical practice, the idea of queer listening begins with the intention to dislocate the familiar and the hegemonic through critical reading practices that characterize “superordinate studies.” However, queer listening deepens and expands that intention through a course orientation that places queer texts at the center of knowledge-making about masculinities, thus further encouraging the practice of rhetorical listening.