Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory
Brand: Zed Books
Categories: Books, Politics & Social Sciences, Social Sciences



Dimensions: 5.26 x 0.68 x 8.58 inches
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781783606757
Publisher: Zed Books
Print length: 224 pages
Publication date: June 15, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-1783606757
Edition: 2nd
subtitle: 2nd Edition
author: Visit Amazon's Mimi Marinucci Page search results Mimi Marinucci
review: Editorial Reviews Review “[Feminism is Queer] is an outstanding reference for students and faculty attempting to understand the history and current issues in the LGBTQ+ communities.” ― Choice Connect “Marinucci handily synthesizes new and classic theories regarding cultural and scientific definitions of sex, gender, and sexuality in a comprehensive text that is both lucid and erudite. This book will surely become required reading in many courses in women's and gender studies and in sexuality studies.” ― Elizabeth Arveda Kissling, Eastern Washington University “In wonderfully accessible and penetrating analyses, Marinucci makes the case that feminist and queer theory are inseparable allies – or should be. With its comprehensive appendix and carefully organized chapters, Feminism is Queer is an ideal text for teaching about gender, sexuality, and the practice of theorizing.” ― Marjorie Jolles, Roosevelt University “This brief yet comprehensive book is perfect for anyone who is interested in the origins and meanings of the concept 'queer.' Marinucci's impressive interdisciplinary depth and breadth combine with a readily accessible writing style to make Feminism is Queer a lucid and intelligent treatment of an essentially complex and controversial concept.” ― Nancy Slonneger Hancock, Northern Kentucky University About the Author Mimi Marinucci completed a Ph.D. in philosophy and a graduate certificate in women's studies from Temple University in 2000. Currently serving as associate professor of philosophy and women's & gender studies at Eastern Washington University, Marinucci teaches courses on feminism, philosophy, and feminist philosophy. Marinucci, who is especially interested in the subjective and social aspects of knowledge production, particularly knowledge produced around issues of gender and sexuality, is the author of of several articles that employ references from popular culture in the service of a more scholarly agenda. Examples include 'There's Something Queer About The Onion' (forthcoming in The Onion and Philosophy, edited by Sharon Kaye, Open Court), 'What's Wrong with Porn?' (forthcoming in Pornography and Philosophy, edited by Dave Monroe, Wiley-Blackwell), 'Television, Generation X, and Third Wave Feminism: A Contextual Analysis of the Brady Bunch' (Journal of Popular Culture, Volume 38, Number 3, February 2005), and 'Feminism and the Ethics of Violence: Why Buffy Kicks Ass' (in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, edited by James B. South, Open Court, 2003). Marinucci is also the founding editor of Wave 2.5: A Feminist Zine, a two-time Utne Independent Press Award nominee (2005, 2009). Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Feminism is Queer The Intimate Connection Between Queer and Feminist Theory By Mimi Marinucci Zed Books Ltd Copyright © 2016 Mimi Marinucci All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-78360-675-7 Contents Figures, Acknowledgments, Preface to the second edition: The cultural currency of queer, Preface to the first edition: Not just the new "gay", Section I: Sexuality, 1 The social construction of sexuality, 2 The social history of lesbian and gay identity, 3 Queer alternatives, Section II: Sex, 4 Unwelcome interventions, 5 Welcome transitions, Section III: Gender, 6 Gender refined and redefined, 7 Feminism re-examined and reconsidered, Section IV: Queer feminism, 8 Notes toward a queer feminism, 9 Questionably queer? From straight allies to queer solidarity, Appendix: Terms and concepts, Index, CHAPTER 1 The social construction of sexuality "You're likely to see many queer things in the Land of Oz, sir," said the Wizard. "But a fairy country is extremely interesting when you get used to being surprised." L. Frank Baum, The Emerald City of Oz, p. 219 The Kinsey Report Many people who support the interests of lesbian women and gay men maintain that homosexuality is a universal phenomenon. Drawing on research conducted by Alfred Kinsey and the Kinsey Institute, homosexuality is often estimated to occur in roughly 10 percent of the population. Based on thousands of detailed interviews, Kinsey's findings were published in two volumes: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (Kinsey, Pomeroy, and Martin, 1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (Kinsey, Pomeroy, Martin and Gebhard, 1953). These are often referred to informally as the "Kinsey Reports." The Kinsey Reports challenged conservative beliefs about sexuality by suggesting that taboo practices, such as masturbation, promiscuity, and homosexuality, were much more prevalent than previously acknowledged. For better or worse, the oft-quoted statistic that homosexuality occurs at a steady rate of 10 percent is not a straightforward conclusion of the Kinsey Reports. Kinsey actually reported that "37% of males and 13% of females had at least some overt homosexual experience to orgasm" and that "10% of males were more or less exclusively homosexual and 8% of males were exclusively homosexual for at least three years between the ages of 16 and 55." Kinsey also reported "a range of 2–6% for more or less exclusively homosexual experience/response" among women. Finally, it was reported that "4% of males and 1–3% of females had been exclusively homosexual after the onset of adolescence up to the time of the interview" (as cited by The Kinsey Institute, n.d.). If these figures reveal anything about the rate of homosexuality, it would seem to be that it is largely dependent on the method of accounting. Furthermore, while Kinsey's subject pool was quite large, it was comprised primarily of white college students in the Midwestern USA. The rate of homosexuality within that demographic during the first half of the twentieth century does not necessarily generalize to other populations. A likely explanation for the widespread commitment to the 10 percent statistic is that it implies that, when it occurs, homosexuality is inevitable, and not a chosen behavior or learned response that can be unchosen or unlearned. Kinsey's "Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale," referred to informally as the "Kinsey Scale," is often upheld as evidence that both bisexuality and homosexuality are natural alternatives to heterosexuality. The Kinsey Scale classifies sexual orientation along seven categories numbered 0 through 6, with 0 representing those whose experiences and interests are "exclusively heterosexual" and 6 representing those whose experiences and interests are "exclusively homosexual" (Kinsey et al., 1948, p. 638). According to the Kinsey Scale, everyone else has at least some tendency toward both homosexual and heterosexual expression (refer to Figure 1.1). Rejecting "the assumption that homosexuality and heterosexuality are two mutually exclusive phenomena" (Kinsey, 1941, p. 425), Kinsey avoided using "homosexual" as a noun and instead referred adjectivally to homosexual behaviors and attractions. Kinsey encouraged social awareness and acceptance of sexual diversity, but not by attempting to establish the universal existence of a discretely homosexual population distinct from the larger heterosexual population. Rather, by characterizing sexual orientation as a continuum, Kinsey challenged the widespread belief that, for most people, sexual desire is directed exclusively toward members of just one sex category. Moreover, by concentrating on homosexual behavior instead of homosexual identity, Kinsey implicitly challenged what is sometimes referred to as essentialism. Essentialism is the belief that homosexuality and other identity categories reflect innate characteristics that comprise the fundamental nature of the members of those categories. Because the essentialist account regards homosexuality as an enduring feature of the human condition, rather than the product of social contingencies, those who accept essentialism often assume that homosexuality is historically and culturally universal. Social construction Some theorists who resist the popular assumption that the interests of lesbian women and gay men are best served by an essentialist perspective on homosexuality instead suggest that the categories associated with sexual pleasure and desire are historical and cultural developments. This thesis, often referred to as "social constructionism," applies to heterosexual identity as well as alternative sexual identity categories, such as homosexual, lesbian, gay, and bisexual, asexual, and the like. This does not mean that specific sexual acts are unique to the social contexts in which they occur. A wide range of physical interactions and bodily manipulations connected with sexual desire or conducive to sexual pleasure occur across cultural and historical boundaries. The relationship of these interactions and manipulations to socially entrenched concepts of sexuality and categories of sexual identity, however, is far from universal. As Jeffrey Weeks notes, "the forces that shape and mould the erotic possibilities of the body vary from society to society" (Weeks, 2003). This was the point of a landmark article, aptly titled "The Homosexual Role" (1968), in which Mary McIntosh suggested that homosexuality is not a condition by which people are affected, but rather a social role to which people are assigned. According to McIntosh: the purpose of introducing the term "role" is to enable us to handle the fact that behavior in this sphere does not match popular beliefs: that sexual behavior patterns cannot be dichotomized in the way that the social roles of homosexual and heterosexual can. (1968, p. 184) McIntosh addressed the influence of social role, specifically the role of homosexual male, on perceptions of both self and other: In modern societies where a separate homosexual role is recognized, the expectation, on behalf of those who play the role and of others, is that a homosexual will be exclusively or very predominantly homosexual in his feelings and behavior. In addition, there are other expectations that frequently exist, especially on the part of nonhomosexuals, but affecting the self-conception of anyone who sees himself as homosexual. These are: the expectation that he will be effeminate in manner, personality, or preferred sexual activity; the expectation that sexuality will play a part of some kind in all his relations with other men; and the expectation that he will be attracted to boys and very young men and probably willing to seduce them. (1968, pp. 184–5) Categories of identity determine and are determined by the ways in which people understand themselves and are understood by others. In other words, concepts of identity determine and are determined by the prescriptions and proscriptions that structure and are structured by social existence. Additionally, categories of identity are often binary, established by means of a contrast between the dominant group and those excluded from the dominant group. Indeed, the term "category" ultimately derives from the ancient Greek word kategoria, meaning "accusation" (Iannone, 2001, p. 93). In terms of sexual orientation, the dominant group is established by the distinction between normal and abnormal sexuality, coupled with the accusation that specific forms of sexuality are deviant. I am homosexual only in a culture that, first, has a definition of homosexuality and, second, has a definition of homosexuality that applies to me. Likewise, I am heterosexual only in a culture that, first, has a definition of homosexuality and, second, has a definition of homosexuality that applies to people other than me. The concept of heterosexuality, and hence heterosexual identity, could not exist without the concept of homosexuality, and hence homosexual identity. This inverts the customary way of thinking, in which heterosexuality is regarded as the primary, or original, form of sexuality and homosexuality is regarded as secondary, a mere variation on that first theme. For this reason, it has been suggested that, at least conceptually, homosexuality precedes heterosexuality (Katz, 1996). At the very least, homosexual and heterosexual identities emerge simultaneously and, more to the point, only in the context of a distinction between homosexuality and heterosexuality. The existence of both homosexuality and heterosexuality is contingent rather than necessary. To describe something as contingent is to claim that, under different circumstances, things could have turned out differently. This should not be confused with voluntarism regarding sexual identity. It is, as explained by Edward Stein, "a mistake to collapse the distinction between social constructionism and essentialism into the distinction between determinism and voluntarism or vice versa " (1992, p. 329). Social constructionism does not suggest that people are free to choose between homosexuality and heterosexuality. It does, however, suggest that the conceptual framework, or paradigm, within which homosexuality and heterosexuality occur is a historical development. To fully understand social constructionism, it is important to understand how paradigms function. For this reason, some background information about the concept of a paradigm may be useful. Semantic holism The notion of a paradigm, as it is used here, is an extension of the concept of semantic holism, particularly as developed in 1962 by Thomas Kuhn (1970) in reference to scientific practice. According to semantic holism, the terminology employed within the various sciences is part of an interwoven web of beliefs, such that the meaning of any individual term is fully understood only by direct or indirect reference to the larger vocabulary and corresponding belief system. The indoctrination of scientists is largely a matter of language acquisition, and the language acquired determines standards of evidence and, hence, the range of empirical facts to be acknowledged and explained. This characterization is sometimes referred to as semantic holism in order to contrast it with semantic atomism. Whereas holism explains the individual parts by reference to the greater whole, atomism explains the whole by reference to its constituent parts. This distinction is readily illustrated by ambiguous images conducive to two distinct and mutually exclusive visual interpretations. A familiar example is the black-and-white image alternately recognized as a vase against a dark background or a silhouette of two human faces (refer to Figure 1.2). Conceived as a vase, the image cannot be described by reference to terms such as forehead, nose, and chin; conceived as a pair of faces, the image cannot be described by reference to terms such as base, stem, and rim. The inference, for example, that the proximity of the lips is suggestive of a kiss makes sense only if the overall image is understood to represent a pair of faces. Indeed, the meaning of the term "lip" is quite different when applied to faces than when applied to vases. Kuhn maintained that the meaning of scientific terms is likewise dependent on the overall framework, or paradigm, in which those terms occur. Kuhn also maintained that, just as the ambiguous image is consistent with more than one interpretive framework, it is often the case that the empirical evidence is consistent with more than one paradigm. This is not to be confused with wholesale relativism, which admits of no relationship between reality and interpretation, and no distinction between fact and fiction. The claim that the ambiguous image can be meaningfully interpreted as a vase or as a pair of faces does not amount to the claim that the ambiguous image can be meaningfully interpreted as anything at all, however, nor does the claim that multiple paradigms are consistent with the empirical evidence amount to the claim that any possible paradigm would be consistent with the empirical evidence. What it does amount to is the claim that paradigms are sometimes underdetermined by the empirical evidence. Because paradigms frame the interpretation of evidence, they often obscure the empirical adequacy of alternative paradigms. Viewers for whom the ambiguous image appears as two faces, if unable to switch paradigms, are overwhelmed by incontrovertible evidence that their interpretation is uniquely capable of accommodating the fact that the image consists of noses, lips, and various other facial features. Similarly, those sixteenth-century astronomers who were unable to make the switch from the geocentric paradigm to the heliocentric paradigm continued to define planetary movement as a change in position relative to earth and therefore dismissed the claim that the earth moved around the sun as utterly absurd. Cultural variation Although Kuhn introduced the notion of a paradigm within the specialized context of science, it can also be applied more broadly. Throughout history and across cultures, bodies have been known to mingle in various ways, but often without the requisite paradigm for the application of sexual identity categories specific to contemporary western culture. Consider, for example, the well-documented incidence of anal penetration between men in ancient Athens (Dover, 1978; Hubbard, 2003; Percy, 1996), which is often touted as evidence that homosexuality has existed throughout history (Dover, 1978; Hubbard, 2003). According to David Halperin, sex in ancient Athens "served to position social actors in the places assigned to them, by virtue of their political standing, in the hierarchical structure of the Athenian polity" (Halperin, 1989, p. 260). Adult male citizens occupied a higher social position than younger men, women, and slaves. Because "sexual penetration was thematized as domination" (Halperin, 1989, p. 260), it was consistent with the social role of the adult male citizen to seek sexual gratification not merely from women, but also from younger men and from slaves of any age or sex. Sexual relations between older and younger men is often referred to as pederasty. As long as the dominant male took the dominant role, pederasty served to reinforce rather than threaten the social hierarchy. Within this hierarchy, however, the prospect of homosexuality, conceived as sexual partnership between social equals, would have seemed absurd. Where sex is defined as an act of domination through penetration, the notion of equal sexual partners is a contradiction in terms. Although ancient Greek social structure sanctioned some acts of sexual penetration between men, it did not thereby condone, or even comprehend, anything quite like contemporary homosexuality. Similarly, the existence of various practices in nonwestern and Native American cultures is often touted as evidence that homosexuality exists across cultures (Nanda, 1990; Roscoe, 1991; Whitehead, 1981; Williams, 1986). As Harriet Whitehead notes: The homosexuality that other societies prescribe or condone is immediately taken to be something very much like one of the forms of homosexuality familiar to the modern West, and the explanation of the foreign culture's institutionalizing response, when offered, proceeds in accordance with the chosen meaning of the behavior in our own culture. (Whitehead, 1981, p. 80) The people identified in India as hijras provide one such example. The term " hijra " is applied to those born male or intersex, who undergo surgical castration in order to dress as women and inhabit an intermediate gender role. The people sometimes identified within Native American culture as two-spirit provide additional examples. For example, the Zuni use the term " lhamana " to refer to those identified at birth as male who live their adult lives as women (Roscoe, 1991). The Navajo use the term " nádleehí " for people who have male bodies and a feminine spirit (Nibley, 2009). In Hawaii, " mahu " is used to refer those who are both male and female in spirit (Hamer and Wilson, 2015). Traditionally, two-spirit people often served as healers and performed sacred rituals. Though relevant to an analysis of social roles across cultures, such examples do not establish that homosexuality existed in Native America just as it exists in mainstream US culture today. After all, crossing gender lines in all aspects of social life is not a necessary feature, nor even a typical feature, of contemporary homosexual existence. For this reason, some may be tempted to equate this phenomenon in Native America, not with homosexual identity, but rather with transgender identity. This equivocation is mitigated by significant cultural differences. Whereas Zuni lhamanas and similar people in other Native American tribes were revered as sacred, transgender identity in contemporary US culture is often met with a wide range of reactions, such as sympathy, fear, ridicule, contempt, and even violence. (Continues...) Excerpted from Feminism is Queer by Mimi Marinucci . Copyright © 2016 Mimi Marinucci. Excerpted by permission of Zed Books Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. Read more