Queer

Answering the question of what does it mean to be queer?

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Queer
• genderqueer
• lgbt
• trans
• gay
• lesbian
• bisexual
• race
• class
• gender
• ability
• nationality
• rights

[findnwatch88]

don't know if you'll respond to this b/c this video is older, but i think it's problematic when straight people identify as queer. Queer is about your politics, outlook, etc, but it's also about your position in society. Straight people identifying as queer always seems to me like white people identifying as non-white. I'm a white person w/ anti-racist politics, but that doesn't mean I get to identify as non-white (& white people also suffer from racism, not materially but in other ways)

[reesekelly]

@findnwatch88 I see your point, but I don't agree. I don't think that queer and straight are oppositional or mutually exclusive categories. I think one can be straight (or heterosexual) and still practice sexuality and sexual politics that challenge the norms of society. Just as one doesn't have to identity as non-white to be anti-racist, one does not have to identify as non-heterosexual to have queer politics. And as I mention in the video, for me, queerness is in the actions, not the being

[riotpoof82]

You must have read Michael Warner's The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and Queer Life, yes? If not, his argument and what you're saying are very sympatico. I think you've done a really good job of articulating the problem with mainstream HRC-style LGBT politics for those who aren't wealthy, vanilla prettyboys. And you make a great case for understanding queer as something more and other than a synonym for LGBT, etc. Great video. And, um...you're still ridiculously attractive ;) *sigh*

[reesekelly]

@riotpoof82 yes this is definitely a Warner-type argument, but he's surely not the only one making it :) I do love his work though!

[findnwatch88]

@reesekelly so anyway, apologies for the long comment, but perhaps calling straight people "queered" rather than queer would be more reflective of the realities of oppression non-straight queer people face. not sure though, but still find it really problematic when straight people id as queer. white people also suffer from racism (i would refer to paul kivel for this) and yet it is very important for me to own my whiteness politically and personally. i love your videos reese! thanks for sharing!

[findnwatch88]

@reesekelly (continued) talks about strong identity comes from oppression (ie., white people often don't strongly ID as white, straight people as straight). It seems like we are losing a very important part of being queer- experiencing material and societal oppression- when we say it's ok for straight ppl to id as queer. Straight ppl suffer sexual oppression, of course, but 1 of the markers of straightness is material privilege *b/c* queer ppl are materially oppressed, discriminated against, etc

[findnwatch88]

@reesekelly thanks for your reply! do you think there's a valuable difference in calling someone queered versus queer? I also don't want to position queers and straights as mutually exclusive opposites (hope i'm hearing you correctly) Perhaps part of my concern is that as a noun, "queer" seems more essentializing and thus more appropriate as an identity politics marker (and I say identity again to reflect position in society and experience, and am thinking a bit about how Angela Davis -continued

[xklxkl]

Hi

great video (but i'm not well in english) . anyway . Do you know any forum for GQ ?

Thanks

[dancewomyn1]

Brilliant!!

[xxthread]

I get really excited every time you share your opinions on the word queer. Everything said here was right on. Thank you for this, and for speaking your thoughts so damn eloquently all the time. :)

[cameraboi1229]

I am so glad you brought up the welfare benefits/ prison reform! I am going into social work and as I finish my degree I have really become frustrated with the reality of life for women of color. They earn the least amount of income and if they do choose to marry they lose the benefits and risk further poverty! Black men are so much more likely to be arrested for crimes pertaining to drugs as well because traditionally they are more likely to be arrested. They are more likely to be sentenced...

[johnsmithingtons]

They tricked you big time, the info bar is now below the video!