Queer theory (?)
Dec 18 2006 17:04
We're trying to start a queer theory reading group. Well I am, as well as two people who have said they're interested (hopefully more will come soon). Does anyone have any recommendations of a starting point?
(that isn't foucault)
Dec 18 2006 17:46
#2
That's good to know.
Why?
Dec 18 2006 17:50
#3
cos it was just a trendy marketing ploy, back in the day people were happy enough to just be doing sexuality or gender studies. Now you can't move two yards without some knobend queering the gaze.
Dec 18 2006 17:52
#4
Alas.
Any suggestions though?
Dec 18 2006 17:54
#5
Judith Butler seems pretty bearable. I've only read her stuff on Lacan and the Subject but she touches on gender and performitivity a bit.
Dec 18 2006 19:09
#6
Apparently later Butler is more accessible than earlier stuff, but I've only read Gender Trouble so can't say. Otherwise I know very little queer theory.
Dec 18 2006 20:41
#7
i like butler, although i don't agree with all of it
i went to the anarchism and sexuality conference earlier in the year - if i remember i'll dig out the papers and see who might be interesting.
Gavin Brown, a geographer who's just finished his PhD, writes some interesting stuff on queer autonomous space and anarchism. stuff like queeruption and reclaim the streets queer blocs and so on.
although that's not really very theoretical
Dec 18 2006 20:54
#8
Yeah butler's worth looking at. And Kathi Weeks. ""Subject for a Feminist Standpoint"." in Marxism Beyond Marxism is good. Also the one or two essays I've read by Rosemary Hennessy were good, and I've heard her other stuff is really good. And I suppose donna haraway's 'cyborg manifesto' is worth a look, cos its famous and stuff.
Dec 19 2006 07:45
#9
Quote:
Gavin Brown, a geographer who's just finished his PhD, writes some interesting stuff on queer autonomous space and anarchism. stuff like queeruption and reclaim the streets queer blocs and so on.although that's not really very theoretical
Fuck me! That shit's enough to turn Julian Clarey into a homophobe!
Dec 19 2006 09:56
#10
The Harraway's inpenetrable (ho ho) though. Way to resist the patriarchy by just changing what words mean at random.
Dec 19 2006 09:59
#11
ticking_fool wrote:
The Harraway's inpenetrable (ho ho) though. Way to resist the patriarchy by just changing what words mean at random.
queering, ticking_fool, queering, you patriarchial logo centric prick! 
Dec 19 2006 10:36
#12
Quote:
We're trying to start a queer theory reading group.
I've always found survivalists take on life and those fundamental christian types who think jesus is coming back to earth to be pretty queer, oh and Ann Hansens Direct Action has some very queer statements in. Hope this helps.
Dec 19 2006 10:47
#13
Vaneigemappreciationclub wrote:
I've always found survivalists take on life and those fundamental christian types who think jesus is coming back to earth to be pretty queer, oh and Ann Hansens Direct Action has some very queer statements in. Hope this helps.
Dec 21 2006 20:10
#14
"The Material Queer" is worth looking at.
Dec 21 2006 20:11
#15
redtwister wrote:
"The Material Queer" is worth looking at.
Is that the Madonna Fag Hag Remix b-side?
Dec 21 2006 20:36
#16
revol68 wrote:
redtwister wrote:
"The Material Queer" is worth looking at.Is that the Madonna Fag Hag Remix b-side?
Actually, that is the club mix.
"Queer Materialism, while not always Marxist, nonetheless takes its cue from dialectical materialism. Gender and sexuality are regarded here as dependent on the means of production. Here the unstable and shifting ground of queer sexual identity is posited as a function of late capitalism, a situtation of quickly flowing and networking capital, which seeks profit outside of "traditional" gender and sexual boundaries. Thus we see the growing economic importance of gay consumers and workers in capitalism, outpacing and destroying the cold-war hegemony of conservative ethical and religious morals.
At the same time, this points to the stormy reception queer theory has recieved in lesbigay studies. Some have argued that this deconstruction of sexual orientation and gender serves the political interests of the right-wing, preserving male and heterosexist hegemony while undermining women's voices and progressive politics. Queer theory, like bisexuals, can pose a "crisis of meaning" for many who wish to carve out a safe and protective space for lesbigays.
As LesBiGay studies have often relied on sexual orientation/sexual identity as a fundamental category, queer theory attempts to destablize this "bedrock," revealing the power structures and discursive limits within. Because of its emphasis on captalism (from a Marxist perspective to be sure) and its deconstrucitve tactics, queer theory is thus attacked from the left and the right." Nice summation stolen from Amazon
Cheers, steers and queers
Dec 21 2006 20:40
#17
that does sound pretty good, though clearly not as good as it being done in a 3 minute pop song remix.
Dec 21 2006 20:49
#18
The Material Queer compiled by Donald Morton
Profit and Pleasure by Rosemary Hennessey
Homosexuality and Liberation: elements of a gay critique by Mario Mieli
Dec 21 2006 20:52
#19
AIDS: Gay Men, The Illuminati and THE TRUTH!: Editor Coffeemachine, preface by raw.
Dec 21 2006 20:55
#20
oh there is this great article in Morton's "transformations" journal called "post marxist queer theory and the politics of AIDS" that is really good if you ignore the passing lenist references.
Dec 21 2006 21:17
#21
Dec 21 2006 21:53
#22
Cheers!
The material queer sounds particularly interesting - anyone got any idea where to get copies from? I just had a look on amazon and it's £30+
Dec 21 2006 21:55
#23
i found it used on amazon for 15 bucks.
Dec 21 2006 21:56
#24
if you tell me which sections you want to read, i'll copy and scan them here at work. won't cost me nothin.
Dec 22 2006 00:22
#25
revolutionrugger wrote:
Homosexuality and Liberation: elements of a gay critique by Mario Mieli
The last chapter of that is available at:
http://libcom.org/library/gay-communism-mario-mieli
Dec 24 2006 09:37
#26
revolutionrugger wrote:
if you tell me which sections you want to read, i'll copy and scan them here at work. won't cost me nothin.
Wicked, cheers! It won't be till January but I'll get back to you then. This sounds really interesting.
Dec 24 2006 09:38
#27
Although I've talked to one of the other people interested and they wanted to do literary queer theory. Damn English students. 
Queer Theory: Branding thought.
seriously I hate that term queer theory!