History is Queer is a series of entries highlighting LGBTQ individuals in the contemporary world and throughout history.
Who: Michael Barrymore
When: 1952-present
Where: Britain
The opinions expressed here are those of the blogger, and do not represent the views of The Cube or Southern Tier AIDS Program.
Read more
History is Queer is a series of entries highlighting LGBTQ individuals in the contemporary world and throughout history.
Who: Julie d’Aubigny
When: 1670-1707
Where: France, duh.
The opinions expressed here are those of the blogger, and do not represent the views of The Cube or Southern Tier AIDS Program.
Read moreWhat does “queer” mean? Once seen as a derogatory term, in the last 20 years there has been a movement to reclaim it as a positive term.
To best understand the meaning of the word, let’s look at its origins. It is most popularly believed to taken from a Low German word of Brunswick dialect meaning diagonal, to cross, or off center. The German word “quer”, which means oblique, perverse, or odd, is also related. It has Scottish roots as well, meaning peculiar and eccentric. Its first recorded use as a verb “to spoil” was in 1812. It was not used to mean homosexual until 1935 (Harper, 2010). Its meanings “mentally imbalanced or deranged” refer to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorder’s inclusion of homosexuality as a mental illness until 1973 (“A feminist theory,” 2007). It was until the 1990’s that the word had a negative connotation.
During the gay pride celebration in New York City in 1990, the group Queer Nation, made up of AIDS activists who were angry about the government’s noninvolvement in the fight against AIDS, handed out materials entitled, “I Hate Straights!” AND “Queers Read This!” (Stryker). While Queer Nation only survived two years, they helped form the cultural visibility of LGBT people in 1990s by providing actions and protests that were centered around media coverage (Stryker).
The reappropriation, or reclaiming, of terms that were once deemed negative, such as faggot, dyke, bitch, and of course, queer, is intended to regain power, by rendering the insult useless through positive connotation. The idea is that if we use queer as a term that is inclusive of things outside of heteronormative binaries, it is no longer seen as something hurtful to be, but rather, something to be proud of. This is the basis for queer theory.
Queer theory arises from LGBT studies and feminist studies. It takes a look at heterosexism in society, culture, literature and beyond, challenging the validity of heteronormative actions and ideals. According to Annamarie Jagose, “queer describes those gestures or analytical models which dramatize inconsistencies in the allegedly stable relations between chromosomal sex, gender and sexual desire.” Queer can encompass anything falling outside of the heteronormative binary, including: gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, and asexual orientations, transgender and genderqueer identities, cross dressing, drag play, and all other formats of gender bending, as well as sexual practices like BDSM (bondage/discipline, dominant/submissive, sadism/masochism), kink, and sex work (Jagose, 1996).
What does queer mean to you? Some people believe its history is too hurtful for it to be a positive word, but others have turned it into an entire academic subject. In the end, your individual interpretation and the emotions or intellectual discourse it invokes are what matters the most.
- Carolyn
A feminist theory dictionary. (2007, July 15). Retrieved from http://afeministtheorydictionary.wordpress.com/2007/07/15/queer/
Harper, D. (2010). Online etymology dictionary. Retrieved from http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=queer
Jagose, A. (1996). Queer theory. Retrieved from http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-Dec-1996/jagose.html
Stryker, S. (n.d.). Glbtq. Retrieved from http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/queer_nation.html
“The opinions expressed here are those of the blogger, and do not represent the views of The Cube or Southern Tier AIDS Program.”
