Queerness: Theories in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies - Week 6

Announcements

  • Guest Speakers:
    • February 27th - Affect
      • Dr. Yecid Ortega, Queen's University Belfast
      • Ellen Richardson, University of Edinburgh
  • Office Hours:
    • Thursday, February 20th, 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM via Zoom

Today's Plans

  • Objective: To become familiar with some of the interventions of Queer Theory into the field of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.
    • Introduce historical debates in the 1990s.
    • What is Queer Theory?
    • Discussion on Quercus.
    • Short Reflection paper 2.

How to Theorize Difference?

  • Gay/Lesbian (Sub)cultures
    • De Lauretis (1991) highlights the lack of comprehensive understanding within lesbian and gay communities regarding each other's sexual histories, experiences, fantasies, desires, or modes of theorizing.
    • De Lauretis emphasizes the necessity of examining, questioning, and contesting the limitations of current discourses on lesbian and gay sexualities due to differences made by race in self-representation and identity.
    • These differences necessitate reframing queer theory questions from diverse perspectives, histories, experiences, and in different terms.

Key Terms and Concepts

  • Emergent sexualities
  • Vernacular culture
  • Queer desires
  • Queer institutions
  • Global sexualities
  • Postcolonial genealogies
  • Political meanings
  • Social formations

Queer Theory

  • De Lauretis (1991) states that the term "Queer Theory" was created to avoid fine distinctions in discursive protocols and to transgress and transcend given terms, rather than adhering to any specific term or assuming ideological liabilities.

Queerness as Positionality

  • The question is posed: If 'Queer' is not an identity, how can it function as a positionality, and what becomes of its progressive claims to coalition and alliance?

Queering

  • Queering as a verb describes an activity that disrupts or destabilizes a structure, order, or practice from within.
  • It defamiliarizes previously stable objects and experiences from gender and sexuality to movies and gaming.

Keywords

  • Feminist Key Podcast, Episode 22: Queer
    • Dr. Karma Chávez interviews Dr. Chandan Reddy, the author of the "queer" entry in Keywords for Gender and Sexuality Studies.
    • Reddy discusses his history as a queer activist, the development of the concept of queer of color critique, and the various theoretical and political usages of queer.
    • The podcast is available on all podcast streaming services.

Discussion Questions

  • WGS200Y5 Y LEC0101 > Discussions
    • Week 6: Queerness Discussion Question 1 & 2 (Available until Feb 27, 12:00 p.m.)

Short Reflection Paper 2

  • Due Date: February 27th 2025 by 11:59 P.M. on Quercus.
  • Length: 2-2 ½ pages double-spaced
  • Weight: 5%
  • Instructions:
    • Watch the Conversation between Shauna Sweeney and Natalie Zemon Davis to familiarize yourself with the history of WGSS at the University of Toronto.
    • Using specific examples from course readings, discuss how ideas related to feminism, gender, and sexuality have changed since the inception of the field.
      • Contextualize Dr. Natalie Zemon Davis's response as part of the conversation.
      • Engage with two course readings, specifying the author, year, and clearly defining key terms or concepts relevant to your argument.
    • Connect what you've learned to your lived experience.
      • Explain how your understanding of the field's history will shape your future decisions in the WGSS program, providing specific examples. Points: 100
  • Submitting a file upload
    • File Types doc, docx, and pdf
    • Available until Mar 6 at 11:59p.m.