Day: February 4, 2018

In class, I defined Queer Theory as the study of identities and orientations that fall outside of classically accepted heteronormative ideas and how they interact with and shape our culture, society, and the individuals who compose society.

In Computer Science, perspectives from Queer Theory have very limited applications. Human identity and orientation has no impact whatsoever on computational problems, nor any practical application of computing technology or algorithmic problem solving. It is interesting to consider these perspectives in regards to sentient Artificial Intelligence, but that would fall more into the realm of philosophical thinking rather than the actual science that is the basis of intelligent systems. The only facet of this field that any perspective from Queer Theory would have an effect on would be software development, but even then it would depend on what kind of program is being developed and for what reason. However, once again those kinds of perspectives would fall more under the realm of marketing or design, rather than the actual coding or development.

In Cohen’s writing, she lists the banning of interracial marriages as one of the ways that marriage promotes white supremacy. She argues that the goal behind restricting interracial marriage was to preserve racial ‘purity’. Considering that much of the underlying motivation for segregation could be construed as something similar, its a reasonable assumption to make that marriage would be no different. By both keeping mixed couples from the social benefits of marriage, as well as, at the same time, restricting non-white couples from those benefits, the institution of marriage would help in promoting white supremacy.

This segregation of people among intersecting groups, this case being heterosexuals, causes rifts in those groups that would otherwise be united. In a way, it relates to her statements about coalition politics. Because people can have many different identities and belong to several different marginalized groups, it can cause separation between those groups. These coalitions rely on solidarity and mutual support to unite people, and when that unity is threatened it can greatly damage those groups. For example, within the LGBTQ community, I have seen some people pushing to drop the T. Regardless of the reasoning, the desire to distance and separate from each other shows a lack of unity and support as well possibly damaging future support within the group. It makes the entire group weaker when not everyone can trust each other for support, and dividing the group entirely would make both parts not nearly as strong as the whole.

Queer theory is a field of academic inquiry that examines both the structuring of society into “normal” and “queer” categories and also the impact of these structures and their relationship to power differentials. As an undergraduate, I majored in neuroscience. Perspectives from queer theory would be useful to neuroscientists because neuroscience is moving towards finding the biochemical explanations for human experiences, and queer theory could be a valuable lens through which to view some of those experiences. More specifically, neuroscience has not identified the structures that give rise to gender expression and queer theory would be valuable to anyone interested in identifying those. As a genderfluid person with a neuroscience background, I’ve often wondered about what is going on in my brain on a neuroendocrine level that is influencing my gender. There are also sex and gender biases in research, which is what many neuroscience students do with their degrees, so queer theory would be useful to them in fighting that.

Cathy Cohen wrote that the institution of marriage helped to exploit black bodies and justify white supremacy (Cohen, 454). She gives the example that marriage, historically, has been applied to civilized people who could regulate their sexual desires, but it was legally excluded from slaves. In that way, marriage reinforced white supremacy because black people who were involved in the injustice of slavery were unable to participate in legal marriage, which was a sign of civility. This is relevant to Cohen’s discussion of coalition politics because it underscores the importance of intersectionality of identities. Marginalized groups coming together for coalition politics experience a shared loss of power but their potential is diminished when the members of the coalition ignore the inherent intersectionality of sexual orientation, class, gender, race, and other factors which can put them on the side of their group’s oppressors on some issues (Cohen, 482). Coalition politics is hard because the groups in the coalition need to support one another and acknowledge aspects of privilege that they experience.

References

Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?”

 

My definition of queer theory: A feminist, academic area of study that is concerned with the cultural view of non-normative sexual orientations and non-binary genders. Queerness has been linked predominately with gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons but may include any sexual identity.

The thoughts and ideas that Queer Theory would be helpful to medical humanities students thinking about going into the healthcare system. LGTBQA persons face many challenges in finding culturally informed health services and getting the best care. In the past, healthcare did not understand queerness and it interfered with providing great medical practice; if the students in my medical humanities understand queer perspectives, they would be better clinicians for it.

 

Cathy Cohen writes about marriage and heterosexuality as viewed from white supremacists perspectives (Cohen, 454). She uses the example of historical marriage laws that prohibit the marriage between slaves, more specifically persons of color. Cohen writes about A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. piece, In The Matter of Color-Race and the American Legal Process: The Colonial Period, and writes, “he reminds us that the essential core of the American legal tradition was the preservation of the white race” (Cohen, 453). In colonial times, people of color were not allowed to participate in the sanctity of marriage because it threatened the white race. These views carried on throughout history and interracial marriages are still stigmatized today.

Cohen’s discussion of this relationship is relevant to her plea for “difficult work of coalition politics” because the prohibition of marriage for people of color can provide more information for integration of races (Cohen, 482). Cohen claims “if we pay attention to both historical and current examples of heterosexual relationships which have been prohibited, stigmatized, and generally repressed we may begin to identify those spaces of shared or similar oppression and resistance that provide a basis for radical coalition work” (482). Coalition politics is challenging work because it attempts to bring together many different marginalized populations to achieve one common goal and each unique group must understand their privileges.

References

Cathy Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?”

-CB

My definition of queer theory: Deconstructing and examining prevailing societal concepts of gender/sexuality and proposing new approaches and terminology, while building off of established schools of thought, to form an understanding of how we as individuals and as a society view, interact with, and identify queerness.

To ecology and evolutionary biology majors: Queer theory can offer interesting and much needed insights into separating human societal constructs from biological mechanisms. For instance, in examining gender and sexuality from a biological perspective, it’s is important not to be influenced by preconceived notions of what it means to be a sexual and gendered individual. Queer theory can allow you to transcend the prevailing social concepts of gender and sexuality so that when studying, say, non-heterosexual relations in organisms other than humans, you are inclined more to think about how these actions relate to fitness, social structures, dominance, etc. rather than imposing how human queerness affects us onto another species.

In the scope of ecology and evolutionary biology, queer theory can be thought of as a thought process to separate human societal constructs from the nature of the evolution of non-heterosexual relations in the natural world and how they ultimately relate to, and impact the evolution of populations and their role in ecosystems. Furthermore, queer theory allows you to study how populations of the same and different organisms interact with each other without imposing anthropocentric concepts and notions onto non-human organisms.

 

We have come a long way from the times when interracial marriage was legally prohibited, but that does not mean that marriage is no longer a system used to perpetuate white supremacy. As Cathy Cohen wrote in her article, Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics, “The stigmatization and demonization of single mothers, teen mothers, and, primarily, poor women of color dependent on state assistance has had a long and suspicious presence in American ‘intellectual’ and political history.” In this example, it is primarily women of color who are poor and single mothers who are demonized. She points to a quote from The ‘Underclass’ as
Myth and Symbol: The Poverty of Discourse About Poverty reading, “Does that stigma attach to all such households – even, say, a divorced executive who is a custodial mother?” This raises the question of whether it’s really only the marital status of the woman of color that is being called into question, and not her race (hint: it’s definitely about race). In this instance, the marital status of a woman of color is being used to perpetuate white supremacy in the demonization of her as a woman of color while using her choices in marital status (as well as financial situation) as justification for the disguised racism. However, as can be seen by the wealthy white single mother, marital status is not the subject or cause of abuse. What makes coalition politics so difficult is the need to take into account power structures, privilege, and prejudices in play, and noting how they alter the experience of marginalized and normalized groups. To recognize all possible factors at play in perception is near impossible, but to recognize as many as possible and discuss their interrelationships is how we move forward with coalition politics .

Queer Theory, from my understanding, is a method of cultural study that aims to reject traditional views on gender and sexuality as well as understand the construction and implementation of a binary system.  Looking at the world through the lens of queer theory allows individuals to deconstruct the binaries within our society, and reconstruct their own notions of societally imposed categories. It is a perspective that is useful for every individual no matter the field, including the sciences.  In the field of Chemical Engineering, this perspective is useful to have as one will meet a multitude of people from different backgrounds and cultures in the job. Chemical engineering is known as being dominated by white-males and in applying the perspective of queer theory to the relationships and power dynamics within the field, one is able to destruct the pre-existing patriarchy.

 In Cathy Cohen’s piece, Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens, draws on the relationship between marriage and white supremacy.  She writes: “… marriage and heterosexuality, as viewed through the lenses of profit and domination, and the ideology of white supremacy, were reconfigured to justify the exploitation and regulation of black bodies” (454). To explain this connection, Cohen uses examples that stem back to colonial times.   Interracial marriage was prohibited and laws were enacted during the seventeenth century to restrict it from happening. The “mixing” of the races caused such anxiety during not only the colonial times, but up until 1967 during the Civil Rights Movement, and arguably still causes a certain level of anxiety in society.  The “interbreeding” or marrying individuals from different “races” was regulated all the way into the nineteenth century as the “one-drop” rule comes to mind when thinking about tactics used to maintain the “pure” and hegemonic white race.  

The laws prohibiting miscegenation were not appealed by the United States Supreme Court until thirteen years after its Brown decision to desegregate schools. Prohibiting interracial marriage, as A. Leon Hibbinbotham, Jr., expresses in his book, The Matter of Color-Race and the American Legal Process: The Colonial Period, is representative of the American legal tradition of preserving the white race.  From this example, the regulating of behavior of people, namely heterosexuals that are/were considered on the outside of heteronormative privilege can be seen.  To marry someone that is of a different race than one’s own was viewed as threatening to a system of white, upper-class and heterosexual domination.

Cohen’s discussion of this relationship between marriage and white supremacy is relevant to her plea for “difficult work of coalition politics” as it is a relationship that marginalizes people across different races, ethnicities and sexes (462). In discussing this relationship, Cohen is “recognizing the link between the ideological, social, political, and economic marginalization” of different groups of people (462).  Coalition politics is difficult work in its attempt to unite marginalized groups towards a shared goal.  

Sources:

Cathy J. Cohen, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” GLQ 3 (1997): 437-465.