To Queer or Not to Queer?
After reading Annemarie Jagose’s Queer Theory: An Introduction and
reading articles online and listening to the discussion taking place in Dr.
Bateman’s class, to attempt to answer Should we embrace the term “queer” or
not? Is a very complicated and difficult
question to answer. Before I took this class I did not even know how many
different definitions there are for the word “queer”. I simply thought it could
mean weird or different or was just an insult thrown around. I now know, queer
can also be a term of identification that LGBT people use. Some use it to not
choose a specific label[1].
To say the least, many people feel differently about the word queer.
On pages 105-106 in Queer Theory Sedgwick claims, “…If queer
is a politically potent term, which it is, that’s because, far from being capable
of being detached from the childhood source of shame, it cleaves to that scene
as a near inexhaustible source of transformational energy.” I would agree with
Sedgwick twice. First I would agree that the word has a terribly destructive
past and many people still see the word for what it was. I also agree on the
account of the words potential and how it has such capability to transform into
a productive and positive meaning to the word. On page 109 in Queer Theory Jagose states, “This
installation of queer identity as something fixed, stable and known- within the
template of national identity does not fulfill the radically denaturalizing
potential of queer.” I would also agree with Jagose that to define this word to
such a fixed meaning would destroy the true power of the word queer. The word
has multiple definitions and creates the perfect environment for the
re-introduction of the word in a new light but without losing sight of its
other meanings. For example the ‘N’ word was first used to harass, damage, and
oppress an entire race. It has many similarities and many differences with the
word ‘queer’. Now it is used as slang between friends, and as a symbol of
overcoming oppression and many other things. This is similar to what needs to
be done and is en-route to happening with the word queer. To use the word that
once damaged and oppressed and is now a politically potent term would be to
overcome the old meaning and upon the old meanings oppression build a powerful
and useful word. Similar to taking ridicule and upon that ridicule making it a
sense of pride.
However, in today’s world many
people are not educated, are not well informed and are very ignorant to the
word queer. Similar to myself, before taking this class I had no idea the
debate going on around the word queer. In my opinion the word has much
potential but is still in the early stages of changing for the better. After
just a few days of this class and reading Queer
Theory I have different views on certain issues. I brought these issues to
my friends here at Regis and they were also ignorant to the entire debate. I
was ignorant to the entire debate and I have taken other courses (Gender and
Homelessness) and was still ignorant to the word. Education is a huge and
influential part to the word, and without it we are at a disadvantage.
I went to an all boys, all-boarding,
military school in southern Virginia. It was a strict Christian school that was
also ignorant to the word queer. The only use for the word down there is
negative, brutal and harmful. My roommate being gay really struggled throughout
this school and also only saw the word being used horribly. I wish I could take
my roommate and many others to this class with Dr. Bateman and hopefully then
too they would learn and become educated about the word queer and change the
way they think of it, use it and understand it. Of course this is impossible to
actually have happen, however I do firmly believe that through education and
many other ways the word queer can be used for good and can be a politically
potent term. Many people may argue that they would not and do not surround
themselves with people who use the word damagingly. However to change a word or
anything at all, it is undeniable that one must reach a wide audience and many
people of differing beliefs in order to cause change and cannot just simply
ignore others. Overall I have learned a lot from Queer Theory and firmly believe that we should embrace the term “queer”
and although it has a long way to go, I would say it is headed in the right
direction.
I appreciate here how you situate your previous understanding of this term within the context of your experiences at boarding school in Virginia. That context is so important to consider, and knowing your connection to your roommate gives your piece a kind of poignant authenticity. (In fact, I wonder if you might have opened your post with this story, which could have been a powerful hook for your reader.) I really like your gesture to Sedgwick and her notion of shame--for her we have to recognize and grapple with the legacy of shame that is at the heart of so many LGBT/queer people's experiences. To use queer in this way to confront this shame, never forgetting it in a way, and honoring it, even as we simultaneously don't let it destroy us. That kind of pain and trauma can never be tossed aside glibly. But attending to it can transform us, if we do it in the right way. Your tentative embrace of the word queer illustrates one way that we might do this.
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