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?”