Queer Theory Research Articles

Composing Time in a Secondary U.S. Classroom: (Not) Challenging Ideological Polarization through Straight and Queer Temporal Movements

Drawing on a larger year-long ethnography at a public, urban, comprehensive high school in the Midwestern United States, this article describes the texts students composed in a co-taught sophomore (grade 10) humanities course combining social studies and English language arts. Bringing together sociocultural perspectives on literacy and composition with queer theorizations of time, I argue for the utility of attending not only to time’s multi dimensionality but also its multi directionality. Doing so in writing instruction can help thaw binary polarization and foster more humanizing temporal and in turn ideological movements. To illustrate, I present an ethnographic case of students writing about the history of gendered clothing in 20th-century U.S. society. I examine how different temporal ideologies had consequences for students (not) reproducing antagonistic, polarized binaries with respect to oppressive values, in particular anti-LGBTQIA+ values as they intersect with class, race, and politics. Although my emphasis is how gender and sexuality intertwine with economics, race, and politics, this article suggests that attending to the multidimensionality and multidirectionality of time is a productive site for scholars and educators committed to praxes of justice in writing instruction.

The Impact of Character Creation and Customization on Self-Expression and Identity in RPGs

While a large of research investigates the importance of character creation and customization in role-playing games (RPGs) on players’ motivation and enjoyment to play, little is known about the impact of character creation and customization on players’ self-expression and identity exploration. Video games have been a venue for both developers and gamers to explore complex stories and ideas. Role-playing games (RPGs) are a type of video game in which players can take the role of a character in a fictional setting and interact with the game’s narrative. This paper is part of a larger research on the construction of individual identities using RPG character creation and customization. Building upon existing research on identity adaptation theory, queer theory, the proteus effect theory, and the performance of identity, this paper finds that players’ choices of character creation and customization contribute to opportunities for self-expression and individual agency. This paper also examines the character Creation and Customization preferences among different demographic groups and the association between in-game identity and real-life self-perception and social behaviors of players.

Questioning Case Studies: Subverting Social Work Education and Practice Through a Lens of Queer Irreverence

ABSTRACT Queer theory pushes us to resist normativity, question power structures, and strive for liberation. Queer-affirming practice encourages trauma-informed, consensual, accountable, and reciprocal care. Theoretically, the values of queer theory, queer-affirming practice, and social work are adjacent, if not intrinsically interconnected. However, social work education often relies on practices rooted in oppressive frameworks wedded to traditionally western and colonist socio-behavioral science standards that go unchallenged. For example, encouraging the appropriation of clients’ lived experiences for students’ learning and instructors’ teaching needs reinforces this complex, as this practice can be exploitative and reductive. Similarly, training social workers to engage clinical exercises without the transparent consent of their clients dehumanizes clients and reinforces imbalances of power. Inspired by Alex Iantaffi’s approach of irreverence in Gender Trauma and queer theory’s analysis of power, the practice of case studies (i.e. formulations, analyses, etc.) is questioned and subverted. Through an example of how the gatekeeping process of gender-affirming surgery letters can be practiced with “queer irreverence,” this piece offers tools for applying such irreverence in clinical practice, informing liberatory paths forward.

The Boundaries of Transgender Rights: A Case Study Based on the Historical Legislation of the United States

The U.S. started to legally recognize transgender as transexuals in the 1970s, but with the late 1980s gender queer theory, the U.S. legal system recognizes all transgenders by how they identify themselves. The 2010s see rapid growth in transgender movements and related surgical industries. This paper studies the historical development of transgenders rights in the U.S. and analyzes its legitimacy based on past legislation and ideologies of America. It uses historical analysis and case studies on past lawsuits of the development of transgender. It analyzes how the three aspects of social, economic, and political factors intertwine to form the current legislation regarding transgenders. It divides the post-1980s transgenders into two groups to analyze, each based on a historical analysis of legislative values in the U.S. The current development of transgender rights and the over-protection of which has violated the U.S.s founding ideologies of liberty. To ensure the basic right to privacy in sex-divided facilities, legal systems should give clear criteria for determining transgender. To protect transgenders, especially adolescents and young adults, legislation needs to outlaw the school-to-clinic pipeline.

Against Chrononormativity: How May a Concept of Queer Time Challenge Traditional Ideas of Historical Progress?

If we, in modernity, define time as the standard by which we measure and organise the expected life course, as ‘linear, ordered, progressive, and teleological’ (Luciano, 2007:2), then queer discourse and experience can be seen to exist as oppositional to it. Historical progress is marked by heteronormative assumptions of the life course - regarding factors such as bodies, achievements, goals, and productivity - assumptions that queer communities may not always assimilate to. This essay aims to discuss how a concept of ‘queer time’, borne from this alienation and difference, can be seen to challenge traditional, heteronormative, and ‘western’ ideas of historical progress. To do so, it is important to consider further concepts, such as chrononormativity, grief, and activism, through contesting queer theories on futurity. Additionally, all arguments should contemplate intersectional applications, as what we define as ‘the queer experience’ continues to adapt and diversify.

Trans-cending Parenthood: Lived Experiences of Parents Raising Transgender and Gender Expansive Children

This Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study, informed by the application of queer theory, examined eleven parents’ narratives about raising Transgender and Gender Expansive (TGE) children. The subjective experiences of these parents’ transcendence into parenting a TGE child informed one superordinate theme, the impact of living in a conventional society on the unique parenting experiences of raising TGE children. Evoked by the superordinate theme, the subtheme socio-cultural-political influences, encompasses preconceived ideas and assumptions experienced by each parent as they navigate raising a TGE child within a conventional society. Other subthemes include internalizing cishet norms and safety concerns, cishet language and cognitions on gender, and protective feelings and reactions to family and community judgments which demonstrate the multiple realities of each participant. The final subtheme, peer-led play support group, embodies these parents’ involvement in an affirming space. This data, and the meaning made from it, align with the realities of each participant and their experiences as a collective to inform this paper, which concludes with implications for supporting parents of TGE children and considerations for future research.

To be or not to be? The question of equitable healthcare

Purpose The purpose of this commentary is to appraise and critically evaluate sexual minorities' mental health provision according to individual and systemic barriers to mental health care. It addresses the issue of health inequity by first exploring the background narrative that informs health inequalities and then moving forward in creating a health equity framework. Design/methodology/approach From the focus point of mad studies and queer theory. Findings In this critical commentary, the work alongside others will be viewed and discussed in terms of addressing individual and systemic barriers to mental health care. Furthermore, how this has been significantly influenced by the colonisation of mental health with its polarising language and increased marginalisation will be discussed. Practical implications Progress world view (PWV) will help sexual minorities receive the care needed. Social implications Through the decolonisation of mental health, there will be a new understanding that helps us achieve health equity by using a gay worldview lens called the PWV (Broadway-Horner, 2024). Originality/value In closing, recommendations for future research alongside policy implications for service restructuring implementation of a decolonising health service. This will include a national training package to increase self-efficacy levels. It brings together a cohesive understanding of the PWV within a larger body of work on sexual minorities and mental health.

Drag Artists in Shanghai: Balancing Local and Global Influences in Queer Cultural Production

This article discusses a case study of a group of local and expat drag artists based in Shanghai, China. Theoretical perspectives of “global gay” discourse, queer temporality and Chinese-centric queer theories were employed to question how Shanghai’s drag artists navigate drag’s growing popularity, Chinese state restrictions and Western dominance. Through analysing semi-structured interviews and performance video samples of seven drag artists and one LGBTQ+ venue owner, queer cultural productions in China were explored to ask how they offer new possibilities for queer knowledge production, and propose futurities that are simultaneously transnational and rooted in China. While the influence of Euro-American LGBTQ+ discourse was documented and acknowledged, other perspectives revealed more nuanced conceptualisations of the binary between copy/original, the frictions inherent in cultural exchange, and diverse forms of resistance. Shanghai’s drag scene is evolving in distinct ways, incorporating both global and local influences and cultural traditions. With queer knowledge still largely attributed to the West, and non-Western experiences vastly underrepresented, it is important to recognise what underground cultural productions such as those in Shanghai offer global queer cultural exchange.

’I would just like to be straight.’ Boys and young men’s concerns about being gay in the questions sent to a Finnish sexual counselling service

ABSTRACT This article delves into the experiences of boys and young men grappling with anxiety surrounding potential ‘homosexual’ orientation, particularly within the context of societal expectations of normative heterosexuality. Using data from queries submitted to a Finnish sexual counselling service between 2017 and 2019, we highlight a dissonance between societal equality initiatives and the lived experiences of boys and young men in Finland. Drawing on queer theory and social norms critique, we analyse the constraints that limit the exploration of sexuality and self-identification among young Finnish men. Our findings underscore the pervasive impact of enduring societal norms on young men’s ability to express their sexuality openly and authentically. We advocate for strategies to promote a more supportive environment for young persons to navigate their sexual identities and advocate for the well-being of young people, alongside considerations for professionals working in youth support roles.

“Couldst thou not watch with me?”: Queer Orientation and Unresponse in Swinburne’s ‘A Wasted Vigil’

In his 1866 review of A.C. Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads, John Morley expresses anxieties regarding the poet’s capacity for queer reorientation – his ability to bring transgressive erotic desires within his reader’s field of vision. The following year Swinburne published ‘A Wasted Vigil’, a lyric address to a beloved incapable of “watching with” the poem’s speaker. How does Swinburne address queer reorientation and the affective community between himself and his reader in his poetry? Using a phenomenological approach, this essay brings Swinburne into dialogue with Sara Ahmed’s work on affect studies and queer theory in order to examine the way in which ‘A Wasted Vigil’ articulates compulsory heterosexuality and queer possibility.

Szczeliny wiejskiego pożądania – queerowa widmowość: wiśnie i mech

This article aims to analyze queer spectrality in rural areas in Zyta Oryszyn’s novel Najada (1970) and in Olga Tokarczuk’s Empuzjon (2022). In both novels, the specters of women who have experienced violence become midwives of queer identities. The haunting does not evoke an affectation of horror, but of solace – it becomes a crack in which the non-heteronormative protagonists experience respite; it is an allied haunting. Referring to the sociological imagination of Avery F. Gordon, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s queer theory and Terry Castle’s concept of the apparitional lesbian, the author distinguishes between two types of queer spectrality. Key-words: queer, rurality, spectrality, hauntology, Zyta Oryszyn, Olga Tokarczuk

The Difference Queer Aesthetics Make

Queer Aesthetics will be a new section for GLQ, and this essay explains its focus and rationale as it replaces the Moving Image Review. This essay outlines the need for queer aesthetics as an analytic as it relates to changes in liberal governance and media representation, subjectless critique, and academic discourse. In addition, it outlines a genealogy of queer aesthetics and form and questions the centrality of representation as a discourse for queer theory and studies.

Queering COVID-19: A Synergistic Approach to Theorizing Pandemic Inequalities

COVID-19 has amplified social, economic, racial, gendered and sexual inequalities from its earliest days, yet distinct contemporary experiences of COVID-related inequalities around the globe warrant further analysis. Social scientists have theorized COVID-19 and its stratifications through various analytic axes, including critical race theory, decolonial thought and queer theory, and have identified the disparate impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+ communities in varied global contexts. However, the ‘queering’ of COVID-19 remains a timely project. In this article, we assess how the production and (re)production of discourses and practices that further pathologize people outside the hetero-patriarchal norm is an integral part of the ways in which a queering of COVID should be conceptualized. We understand queering COVID-19 as a theoretical stance that de-centres heteronormative and binary-gendered social structures and brings a critical eye to the normative political, biomedical and economic projects therein.

‘Was I in dixie or wasn’t I:’ queer negativity and the U.S. South in Howard Cruse’s stuck rubber baby

ABSTRACT This essay examines how Howard Cruse’s graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby (1995) engages with contemporary debates on relationality and queer theory in relation to the text’s politics of the U.S. South. Drawing on theorists like Lee Edelman and Jose Esteban Munoz, the essay argues that while Cruse depicts seemingly utopic queer spaces like the Rhombus bar, these ultimately fail to achieve a true queer utopia due to the ideological constraints of the U.S. South. Instead, the novel situates its queer protagonist Toland in a suspended state of liminality, caught between heteronormativity and an unattainable queer utopia. As a response to such liminality, this essay traces how Toland attempts to assimilate into normativity by engaging with the project of reproductive futurism. However, in response to the lynching of Toland’s friend Sammy, I argue that he experiences a symbolic fragmentation, prompting him to embrace his queer identity and exist within the negative, anti-social temporality. By foregrounding the complexities of Stuck’s depiction of U.S. Southern queerness, this essay argues that the novel maintains a view of queerness as oppositional to hegemonic visions of the U.S. South while constrained by external forces of marginalisation.

Queering the role of hostel carers within the sexuality education of visually impaired learners

Background: Literature suggests that the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) of children with disabilities (CwDs) remains located within parental and educators’ ecologies. However, very little focus has been given to the role of hostel carers, especially given that most special schools are mainly residential schools. As such, there is no policy, guidance, or training consideration for support staff such as hostel carers who equally play a care and support role for the CSE needs of CwDs.Objectives: The aim of this article was to explore how hostel carers in South African residential schools for the blind (SFB) perceived and responded to their role in providing CSE to visually impaired learners.Methods: Thirty-six hostel carers from three SFB were conveniently sampled and interviewed in separate focus group discussions. Queer theory underpinned this study, while the data generated was analysed thematically.Results: Given that visually impaired learners spend 9 months of the year in hostels to be given holistic institutional support, hostel carers reported assuming a major role in their CSE. But because they saw themselves as unqualified, outnumbered by learners, and inundated by other responsibilities (e.g. cooking and cleaning), they reported being powerless and incapable to sufficiently cater for the CSE needs of visually impaired learners.Conclusion: The study suggests that hostel carers have been neglected as care and support agents, despite playing a crucial role in the growing psychosexual needs of visually impaired learners.Contribution: A holistic approach to providing CSE to visually impaired learners incorporating carers is provided.

Balkan Eyes: Surveying Pristina through queer eyes

This paper explains and discusses the experience and process of a workshop held in Pristina, Kosovo, with the theme of Queer Urbanism. Six participants from different backgrounds were tasked to explain their personal stories relating to their city. Comparing historical antecedents from art and architecture while discussing various lines of queer theory, this workshop constituted a laboratory of methods and practices that weave through the possibilities that Queer Urbanism can generate.

Jak nawiedzają lesbijki. Homo-spektralność, tożsamość i trauma w niezależnych podcastach Midnight Radio (2018) i Weaver (2021)

The article presents the spectralisation of lesbian desire, i.e., the discursive production of the social invisibility of lesbians, through its presentation in two podcasts: Midnight Radio (2018) by Bobbie Parker and Weaver (2021) written and performed by Newton Sweeney. The issue of spectralisation combines uncanny studies with queer theory, developing the concept of the queer subject as a phantom emerging in heteronormative culture through the social repression of queerness (the process known as homo-spectrality). In this context, the podcast format is particularly interesting as a derivative of radio, a medium historically predisposed to telling ghost stories (or conveying the voice of a ghost). The analyzed titles illustrate the social mechanism of spectralisation and offer a significant reinterpretation, as they base the production of the spectre not on the psychological mechanism of repression but on the desire for preservation, maintenance, and love.

Queerowanie romansu, queerowanie romansem. Jak powieści m/m zmienią ramy gatunkowe romansu

The article is an attempt to discuss a new, rapidly evolving literary phenomenon, namely the m/m (male/male) novel. The author poses questions: What traditional genre categories can describe this phenomenon? What narrative tools does this literature apply? How does this novel relate to traditional patriarchal romance? And how does it refer to gay literature and the theory and practice of the LGBTQ+ movement? To answer these questions, the researcher analyzes m/m novels from two perspectives. Firstly, in relation to the “traditional” popular romance, and secondly, in relation to gay literature. In her analysis, the author uses concepts from literary genre studies, memory studies, and queer theory. The article reconstructs the brief history of the genre’s emergence and highlights the change it introduces in popular culture.

Queer Transformation and Intersectional Identities: Analysing Race and Sexuality in Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits

This article offers an in-depth examination of Randall Kenan’s A Visitation of Spirits, contextualizing its narrative within the frameworks of Queer theory and African American cultural studies. Set against the backdrop of a rural North Carolina community, the novel focuses on the experiences of Horace Cross, a young African American grappling with his homosexuality amidst the constraints of a Christian Fundamentalist society. The analysis explores how the novel navigates themes of race, sexuality, and identity, particularly through Horace’s quest for self-transformation. This study underscores the novel’s intricate exploration of these themes, positing queer transformation as a pivotal element that provides insight into the complexities of identity and community within the African American context. Additionally, the article examines the novel’s integration of popular culture references, revealing their role in bridging the discussions of racial and sexual identity. The aim is to shed light on Kenan’s narrative as a significant contribution to the discourse on intersectionality in literature, highlighting its impact in the broader fields of Black and queer studies.

Contingent Contradictions and the (Il)Logics of Adolescence: Examining How Undergraduates in an LGBTQ+ Young Adult Literature Course Read Queer Youth

AbstractThis article explores how undergraduate students enrolled in a postsecondary course centering LGBTQ+ young adult literature came to discursively construct notions of queer youth. Braiding postdevelopmental and poststructural theories of childhood with queer theory, we interrogated how what we name as the (il)logics of adolescence shaped who and what queer youth, as a construct, was and could be for participants. Reading across classroom artifacts and student talk about texts, our findings highlight the shifting and multiple (il)logics offered by students as they attempted to unsettle understandings of queer youth in conjunction with course novels. In particular, we examine how two constitutive theories—homonormativity and chrononormativity—generated both contingent and contradictory moments wherein the subject of the queer child was both regulated and liberated by participants. Offering implications that expand understandings in both the reading and teaching of queer young adult literature, the study closes by discussing this particularly contentious moment, noting possibilities in how LGBTQ+ adolescents can and cannot be rendered and understood through stories of youth.