What does the word queer mean? How does it relate to the politics of sexuality and heteronormativity? Authors and theorists define “queer” in diverse ways and often challenge or complicate each other’s definitions Custom Essay

What does the word queer mean? How does it relate to the politics of sexuality and heteronormativity? Authors and theorists define “queer” in diverse ways and often challenge or complicate each other’s definitions. As we prepare to move from our focus on theories of sexuality to queer readings of pop culture texts, we must first define the terminology of our discourse and establish the language we will speak in this class.

Write an essay in which you put two of the four articles we have discussed in class into conversation with each other (Dreger, Bornstein, Warner, and Harding). Use direct quotes and paraphrases to explain how the authors you’ve chosen to work with define the word queer and why they find it useful. If the writer(s) do not make explicit use of the word queer, you should use the arguments they do make to construct their definition by inference.

Don’t just summarize the overall arguments the writers make. Work closely with carefully chosen passages to come to a better understanding of the texts and the term queer. This is a short paper; you cannot cover everything. To help you narrow your focus, you may want to revisit a specific argument or issue that really caught your attention from one of the texts and work outward from there.

Use your analysis of the texts to help you construct your own definition of queer. How might you add to or complicate the arguments these writers make? Challenge yourself. If you could have articulated your definition of queer the same way on the second day of class, that’s likely a sign that you need to work more closely on your analysis of the texts to develop a critical perspective on these ideas.