Queernormativity: Norms, values, and practices in social justice fandom

Abstract

What, if anything, is the queer project? Queer theorists have detailed the ways that gays and lesbians, and transgender people, de-radicalize a potentially queer upsetting of heteronormative systems. Homonormativity and transnormativity have been used to describe the ways that marginalized sexualities and genders are rendered heteronormative. These concepts are important, yet incomplete to capture the experiences of queer people for two reasons. First, they equate ‘normativity’ always with ‘ heteronormativity,’ surrendering the ability to define ‘the normal’ to heteronormative constructions. Second, they render invisible the work done by queer people to redefine the normative in ways that dismantle heteronormativity and affirm queer identities. Through interviews (n = 39), my study works to rectify these twin issues by illuminating the ways queer social actors actively work to redefine what it means to be normative, resulting in queernormativity.