Queer Theory Research Articles

Visual Art Representation and Social Attitudes Towards Transgender Individuals in Pakistan: Exploring Queer Theory, Personal Narratives, and Societal Change

This research paper investigates the intricate interplay between visual art representation, social attitudes, and the experiences of transgender individuals within the Pakistani context. By integrating the frameworks of queer theory, personal narratives, and the recent enactment of the transgender bill, this study aims to contribute to the creation of a more inclusive and supportive society for transgender individuals in Pakistan. The paper begins by providing a comprehensive understanding of key terms such as LGBT, transgender, and gay, clarifying their distinct meanings to avoid misconceptions. It then introduces the theoretical lens of queer theory, which offers critical insights into challenging societal norms and perceptions regarding gender and sexuality. Through an in-depth case study of a college friend who underwent a gender transition and now identifies as a woman, the researcher engages in meaningful dialogue to gain a profound understanding of her personal experiences, challenges, and transformative journey. This exploration sheds light on the emotional disorientation and internal conflicts often encountered when interacting with individuals who have undergone gender transitions, emphasizing the need for empathy and understanding in fostering meaningful connections. Furthermore, the research delves into the realm of visual art practices among transgender individuals in Pakistan, analyzing the artistic expressions of transgender artists and those who explore transgender themes. By examining the transformative power of visual art to raise awareness, promote empathy, and challenge stereotypes, the study highlights the potential of art as a catalyst for social change and acceptance. In addition, the paper addresses the broader societal implications and attitudes towards transgender individuals in Pakistani society, particularly in the context of the transgender bill. It underscores the urgency for progress in terms of ensuring equal treatment, inclusivity, and acceptance, aiming to dismantle discriminatory practices and foster an environment that embraces diversity. Overall, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on transgender rights and social attitudes in Pakistan. By amplifying personal narratives, employing queer theory as an analytical framework, and recognizing the transformative potential of visual art, this study advocates for the dignified treatment and facilitation of transgender individuals as valued members of society with respect and equality.

Genderqueer reflections on Weird Barbie

For better or worse, Barbie (2023) was part of a summer blockbuster phenonemon. Much of the fanfare around the film included conersations about feminism, ‘girlhood’ and whether or not the film was reductive in terms of upholding an iconic yet often criticised doll. This article attempts to wade through that noise by focusing on my own experience of the film as a genderqueer feminist academic. Blending personal reflection with queer theory and feminist critique, I unpack the use of the gender binary in Barbie Land and the implications, if any, for viewers and the overall ‘feminist’ positioning of the film (and whether or not that matters). In particular, I focus on Jack Halberstam's concept of gender failure and what that failure looks like in the idyllic world of Barbie. Following my own feminist epistemological commitments, this article makes use of academic as well as non-academic texts, in addition to blogs and other pop culture sources. Ultimately, this article considers the role of whiteness in the acceptance of the non-normative characters in Barbie – particulalry Weird Barbie – and why it is essential for white queers to remember that their experiences are not the queer experience.

Representation and Its Historical Antecedents in New Media: The Queer-ious Case of Assassin's Creed

Videogames, like other new media, reflect and shape culture and are influenced by societal attitude shifts. We conducted a qualitative close-reading analysis of queer representation in the AAA historical-fiction series Assassin's Creed and the historical antecedents thereof to explore (a) the traditional marginalization of queer-identifying folks in (b) the context of growing societal acceptance within the (inter)national zeitgeist. In our examination of the developer's reaction operationalized as observable shifts in developers’ design choices, we observed an increase in representation that aligns with the shift in social attitudes toward queer folks over the last 15 years. With respect to the historical antecedents, we discovered a misalignment between the in-game portrayal of queer folks and acceptance thereof vis a vis the available historical record.

Nurturing diversity in accounting through “Queering” accounting pedagogy

This article suggests new possibilities to nurture diversity, disrupt heteronormativity and create space for voices of LGBTIQA+ people in accounting. Whilst past research focuses on and challenges heteronormativity in the accounting workplace, we argue that accounting education plays a key role in shaping sexual norms in accounting. We begin by providing insights into how current accounting education largely neglects LGBTIQA+ perspectives, shaping a discourse around sexuality that reflects heteronormative accounting workplaces. We then build upon the theoretical backdrop of queer theory and critical pedagogy to develop LGBTIQA+ perspectives in accounting education. In doing so, we conceptually advance five lenses through which to design modes of education based on queer pedagogy. These lenses include question and deconstruction of normality, critical reflexivity, discomfort, imagination, and activism. Queering accounting pedagogy in this way can assist educators and students in addressing the concealment of LGBTIQA+ perspectives, thereby critically challenging the hidden curriculum of heteronormativity in accounting. The paper concludes by contending that queering accounting pedagogy can bring possibilities for broader classroom inquiry, democratic participation, social justice, meaningful dialogue, and mutually respectful educational practices in accounting.

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.

Sane Fragility - Madness meets critical whiteness

Sanism is an oppressive system which discriminates against people who are labelled or identify as Mad. This article offers tools to describe the structure, operating modes and dynamics of sanism. It thereby refers to the concept of white fragility. I observe sanism on three levels: The structural frame, aspects of individual interactions and issues of intrapersonal processes. Sane fragility occurs on each level. It manifests in the fragile state of sanity as a whole, the lack of stamina or strength a lot of sane people display when confronted with Mad people and in madphobia - the fear of becoming Mad oneself and therefore othering Mad people. I conclude that sanism is an overlooked type of oppression with multilayered dynamics and intersections with fatal consequences. I am a Mad, Queer person and this article contains Mad storytelling along with insights gathered from Black feminism, Queer Theory and Mad Studies.

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

Procreative Possibilities: Analyzing The Philosophical And Ethical Dimensions Of Queer Couples Raising Children

Families are what matters the most, so how do queer families handle their roles? This research paper addresses the metaphysical aspects of queer couples raising children, going against traditional family roles. It also examines the ethics of parenthood, the associated moral considerations when queer couples decide to become parents and questions how responsibilities are perceived in queer households. It examines the ethical, social and legal implications of Aided Reproductive Technologies (ART) and adoption policies. Queer people have existed for centuries although these types of families are rather modern concepts. “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) parents raise well-adjusted children” .The study endeavors to explore conventional beliefs about gender, sexuality, and the nuclear family by referencing feminist, queer, and intersectional theories. We wish to understand what prejudices are held against the children of these queer couples and how they handle such issues. In particular, the research focuses on the duties and ethical issues of persons who abandon past relationships or familial commitments to form queer families. It also explores the philosophical and ethical aspects of moving from a heterosexual lifestyle to a queer one. And in abandoning these responsibilities how these individuals disrupt the conventional family structures. It also looks at the positive ways in which such parenting can impact our societies and fundamentally change the way we look at diversity, equality and justice. In a changing society where traditional ideas of family are being reinvented, this research is crucial. It offers a thorough philosophical examination that can improve social fairness, guide public policy, and advance a more accepting conception of parenthood and family variety. Through an analysis of modern discussions and case studies, this paper seeks to enhance the understanding of family and parenthood to be more inclusive in the 21st century.

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.