The ironic gay spectator: The impacts of centring western subjects in international LGBT rights campaigns

Abstract

With the theory of ‘ironic spectatorship’ (2013), Chouliaraki contends that the experience of the self, rather than the suffering of the other, is at the heart of solidarity campaigns today. Through that lens, this article critiques the centring of the western gay subject in international queer advocacy, using the vilification of Uganda’s anti-homosexuality law as a case study. Through analysis of Stephen Fry’s documentary Out There, and a variety of human rights literature, I conclude that this tendency, as well as being ethically violent, tangibly undermines efforts to achieve queer empowerment.