queering
Challenging binary categories
Queering means making something strange or unfamiliar, from the older sense of queer as odd or peculiar: The unexpected rain queered our plans.
In academic and activist contexts, queering analyzes or reinterprets something through the lens of non-normative gender and sexuality: queering the canon, queering space.
This sense treats established categories as unstable and open to subversion.
Interpreting written text
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- analysisMethodical study of parts
- lensLight-focusing curved glass
- critiqueDetailed evaluative analysis
rereading · reframing · disrupting · destabilizing · questioning · interrogating · problematizing · unsettling
Violation of law or code
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- disruptionForceful interruption of process
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
- challengingHard to accomplish
reclaiming · reappropriation · resistance · dissent · boundary-crossing · undermining · provocative · radical
Sexual and gender minorities
- transgenderGender differs from assignment
- nonbinaryOutside male-female categories
- genderqueerOutside the two-category system
- genderfluidVariable gender identity
bisexual · pansexual · asexual · intersex · pride · visibility · coming out · selfhood
Analysis exposing self-contradiction
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- heteronormativityAssumed universal straightness
- gender studiesScholarly analysis of social identities
- poststructuralismPhilosophy questioning stable meaning
discourse · binary · epistemology · hermeneutics · semiotics · critical theory · genealogy · troubling
Resistance through fluid
- campTemporary outdoor shelter site
- androgynyCombined sex characteristics
- cross-dressingWearing another gender's clothing
- genderbendingTransgressing conventional sex categories
performance · presentation · flamboyance · voguing · ballroom · realness · persona · stylization
Direct effort for reform
- advocacyPleading for a cause
- liberationRelease from constraint
- equalitySame status for all
- rightsJustified claims to freedoms
visibility · representation · resistance · Stonewall · ACT UP · marriage equality · anti-discrimination · coalition
reading
Interpreting written text
- interpretationAssigned meaning
- analysisMethodical study of parts
- lensLight-focusing curved glass
critique · rereading · reframing · disrupting · destabilizing · questioning · interrogating · problematizing · unsettling · challenging
transgression
Violation of law or code
- defianceOpen resistance to authority
- disruptionForceful interruption of process
- destabilizingCausing loss of equilibrium
challenging · reclaiming · reappropriation · resistance · dissent · boundary-crossing · undermining · provocative · radical · countercultural
LGBTQ+
Sexual and gender minorities
- transgenderGender differs from assignment
- nonbinaryOutside male-female categories
- genderqueerOutside the two-category system
genderfluid · bisexual · pansexual · asexual · intersex · pride · visibility · coming out · selfhood · authenticity
deconstruction
Analysis exposing self-contradiction
- intersectionalityInterconnected identity-based discrimination study
- heteronormativityAssumed universal straightness
- gender studiesScholarly analysis of social identities
poststructuralism · discourse · binary · epistemology · hermeneutics · semiotics · critical theory · genealogy · troubling
drag
Resistance through fluid
- campTemporary outdoor shelter site
- androgynyCombined sex characteristics
- cross-dressingWearing another gender's clothing
genderbending · performance · presentation · flamboyance · voguing · ballroom · realness · persona · stylization · extravagance
activism
Direct effort for reform
- advocacyPleading for a cause
- liberationRelease from constraint
- equalitySame status for all
rights · visibility · representation · resistance · Stonewall · ACT UP · marriage equality · anti-discrimination · coalition · solidarity
- queer studiesheteronormativity, intersectionality, sexual orientation, gender identity, non-binary
queeringnormalizing
Making conform to norms
conforming · straightening · heteronormativity · mainstreaming · conventionalizing
queeringessentializing
Attributing fixed nature
fixing · solidifying · categorizing · binary · codifying
queeringheterosexual
Attracted to opposite sex
cisgender · straight · heteronormative · binary · cishet