Queer Anthropology

Profane and shocking word choice helps drive Wittman’s confrontational and liberationist stance on LGBT+ issues. As authors Madeline Davis and Elizabeth Kennedy support in “Oral History and the Study of Sexuality in the Lesbian Community,” American queer rights movements became more critical and liberationist in the 70s (426). Wittman’s piece provides clear evidence of this tone change. By describing topics such as “exclusive heterosexuality” and interactions between males and females as “fucked up,” Wittman unabashedly confronts heteronormative culture and endorses queer peoples’ liberation from

Before continuing onto an analysis of how the Stonewall Riots happened and what came of them, one must first take a closer look at the events and opinions that came before and brought upon the anger and frustration that many LGBT individuals felt on that fateful night. According to many historians, the years before Stonewall were considered a “dark age” for LGBT individuals, where their very existence was

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Queer community also referred to as LGBTQQ is no stranger to oppression. “In 1600-1800, colonists discovered buggery (sex between men or between women) among Native Americans. In 1869, Dr. Karoly Benkert coined the term “homosexuality” to describe same-sex acts. In 1870-1910, homosexuals

During the mid 1900’s, New York City’s queer citizens were discriminated against and faced an anti-gay system. The Stonewall Uprisings were a set of raids and riots in the 1960’s that took place for six days involving thousands of people in Greenwich Village. They were the result of hundreds of years of discrimination and violence against gay and transgender people in America as well as the influence of new thinkers like the writers of the “Beat Generation” who were trying to express their individuality and unconventional thinking. Because of this movement, gay liberation and the fight for modern LGBT rights in the United States changed. Activist groups formed and were inspired to find safe places for them to express their sexual orientation

One’s gender identity represents who they are, whether they were born with male or female genitalia. Back in the 1900’s, “for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) folks in America, the efflorescence of sexual expression did not begin until the waning months of that decade in the heart of the nation’s then-largest bohemian enclave and gay ghetto, New York’s Greenwich Village” (Wolf). In the 60’s, being able to express who you were freely was pushed aside much too often. But because of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, their fight has helped people today be who they want to be without any discrimination. Over “four decades after the Stonewall riots, political leaders are now beginning to recognize the influence of the LGBT community, knocking down barriers to gay and lesbian participation in the military and nominating at least two transgender officials, for the first time in history, to senior posts in the federal government under the Obama administration” (Teal). Whether someone identifies as a man, woman, or neither, they are able to participate in any group regardless. Due to the Stonewall riots, no matter what no one can turn you down based off of your gender identity, which is causing political leaders to now think differently because of this monumental time in history where everyone can be accepted for who they want to

In my paper I will discuss the correlation between the terms assimilation/assimilationist, intersectionality, and oppression. The videos and readings of unit five I believe each share in some aspects a strong correlation with the terms mentioned above. Moreover, the videos and readings each highlighted the aspects of queer politics. I will highlight the racism and the different levels of disparities queer people of color face within the queer community.

Through the personal stories depicted in “The Alumni Interview” by David Levithan and The Vagina Monologues, the authors reveal that societies built heteronormativity force people, especially women and LGBT members, to suppress who they really are and hide their true identities, therefore, causing them to experience traumatic and hurtful situations that should never happen in today’s world. Thom must keep his true identity from his father because he is very afraid of what his reaction to him will be when he finds out that he is gay. Thom knows that his father is not a very accepting man, and because Mr. Wright tries all the time to get Thom to date a girl, he knows his father will not accept him as he is. Thom in not into the norm of liking girls, he likes boys and Mr. Wright sees that as wrong and won’t embrace who he is. As Ian talks to Mr. Wright, he thinks, Don’t you know how wrong it is when you wave a twenty-dollar bill in front of your son and tell him that when he gets a girlfriend, you’ll be happy to pay for the first date?

For every Black man that is born, each is gifted with the rigid expectations of being a hyper-masculine male. These expectations seemed to be passed down through generations from family members. The study "African American Gay Youth and Their Families: Redefining Masculinity, Coping with Racism and Homophobia.”, portrays some of the hardships of coming out within this specific community. A mother who was interviewed in this study said “You are told to be a man … and being a man does not mean you sleep with other men,” she said. “Being a man means you have a woman and you procreate and continue the family name.” And for queer black men especially, this expectation of needing a woman to be the validation for your manhood takes a toll on them and their ability to feel safe in coming out. In this essay I intend to outline the problematic expectations and stigmatization of the black queer male community and develop ways in which this problem can start to be overcome while dealing with different sections of intersectionality.

Stonewall: the Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, was written by David Carter in New York, and published in 2004. This book serves the purpose of identifying Stonewall as the starting point for the modern gay revolution as a whole. It argues that the riots set a spark that ignited America in favor of homosexual rights as well as political and social opportunity. This book is valuable because it not only acknowledges the riots at Stonewall as important, but shows how they transformed homosexual life and the movement entirely. Carter persuades readers to see New York as a venue for revolution, and acknowledges the challenges faced throughout the beginning of the movement,

America has a long and complicated history, some of which has been forgotten or almost hidden away until recently, specifically LGBT history. The history of LGBTQIA+ people as a whole is something that has only been written about since the 1970s. Considering the fact that queer people have been around for much longer than that, their history is still not as developed as it should be. Michael Bronski, a cultural critic, independent scholar, progressive activist, and college professor, has been writing extensively on LGBT issues for four decades and has accumulated his knowledge into A Queer History of the United States. Publishing this “queer history”, his goal is to educated those who are willing to listen on the buried and forgotten LGBTQIA+

Queer theory questions creations of normal and divergent, insider, and outsider.2 Queer theorists analyse a situation or a text to determine the relationship between sexuality, power and gender. Queer theory challenges basic tropes used to organize our society and our language: even words are gendered, and through that gendering an elliptical view of the hierarchy of society, and presumption of what is male and what is female, shines through. Queer theory rejects such binary distinctions as arbitrarily determined and defined by those with social power. It works to deconstruct these binaries, particularly the homosexual/heterosexual binary.4

In Foucault and Queer Theory Spargo defines queer theory as a nebulous group of cultural criticism and analysis of social power structures relating to sexuality . It is these power structures and aspects of culture that are responsible for the discourse that creates and informs ones understanding of gender, race, and sexuality. However these aspects of identity do not exist separately from one another, but are constructed in tandem throughout history. These layers of identity inform each other in a way that is difficult if not impossible to separate. They do not act independently with an additive effect but intersect constructing their own unique set of experiences and perspectives. In this paper I will be exploring queer theory

Canaday, M. (2014). LGBT history. Frontiers: A Journal of Women's Studies, 35(1), 11+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.proxy.davenport.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA370396593&v=2.1&u=lom_davenportc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=9d707445b93f162c44834c8c255b5954

As a class, the “Introduction to Queer Studies” (WST111) is meant to “provide…a basic overview of queer studies and introduce…major texts, theories, and thinkers within this interdisciplinary field…focus(ing) specifically on the development of queer studies within the US academy and on how queer theory has transformed the study of sexuality within the United States” (syllabus). The particular module I would be observing on Wednesday, March 10th- “Feminist Theories of Race, Class, and Sexuality” – included readings from the Combahee River Collective, Barbara Smith, Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, Barbara Cameron, Merle Woo, and Audre Lorde. The sheer number of readings

As being developed by poststructuralism, feminism, lesbian & gay studies and even American pragmatist theory (Parker,2001; Seidman,1997), queer theory has become one of the most important theories, which contributes to the research of sociology, arts and organizations. On the one hand, queer theory has been used to study the relations between the sexuality, gender and workplace. On the other hand, by utilizing denaturalized, deconstructive and performative methods to queer the presumptions of the taken-for-granted norms, queer theorists question and disprove the traditions which people cherish (Seidman,1995).