Hannah-Blog #2

The juxtaposition of gender and sex in Butler’s Bodies that Matter opened my mind to an entirely new way of thinking about queerness. In class we have addressed the “definition” of queer and in the Jagose text we learned the significance and importance of queer academically, historically, and socially; however, Butler’s text takes the concept of sex and gender, places it delicately in a Yahtzee jar, and forcibly tosses it out! I won’t pretend to understand the whole of what Butler is suggesting; however, the one concept that sticks in my mind and requires further discussion is the idea that sex is biologically determined, while gender is a social construct. I am of the school of thought that anything which is socially constructed can be socially deconstructed. The hetero-imperative functions now as the white power structure functioned then. How, as an aspiring queer, am I to help the world to understand and accept that sex should not be inexplicitly tied to identity and that gender should not be static? Butler’s text is a call to action. If we are all aspiring to characteristics of queerness (which I hope that we are) how can we affect change and persist “disidentification?”

Another aspect of Butler’s text that ties in well with the manifestation of queerness in pop culture is the idea of fear. In detailing the formation of the subject, Butler states the following:

The forming of a subject requires identification with the normative phantasm of “sex” and     this identification takes place through a repudiation which produces a domain of abjection, a repudiation without which the subject cannot emerge (3).

It is due to this repudiation that we are only recently beginning to see the signs of a Queer Planet. The manifestation of queer in pop culture is relatively new in the grand scheme of things. My first experience with “queerness” on television was the Pilot episode of Golden Girls. Golden Girls was unique for its time because it consistently affronted what was considered popular and social acceptable. There were episodes centered on interracial marriage, gay family members, cross dressing heterosexual men, and of course sex. I’m not sure how familiar many of you are with this show; however, I honestly believe that each main character carried, both on the show and in their personal lives, an essence of queerness. If we are to define queerness as action and a deviation from, or rather, a rejection of hetero-normative or hetero-imperative values, then we must admit that Golden Girls is a quintessential reflection queerness. My favorite example of queerness in Golden Girls is Dorothy’s brother and Sophia’s son, Phil. The audience never gets an opportunity to meet Phil; however, we know that he was married to a woman, had at least 5 children, and consistently wore women’s clothing. When Phil died, his wife chose to bury him in a black lace teddy. Phil’s identity was not revealed in his physical presentation.

The signs of a Queer Planet are becoming more visible; yet, there are still things to be done. I am completely on fire after reading this text. Academic discussions and theory are necessary but I feel that if I am to ever reach “queerness” I must get to work!