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October 28, 2005
Interrupting Homonormativity
from Margaret Himley
The purpose of this exercise is to get out of the het/homo binary, and look at the complexities within the queer community itself over the questions and practices of assimilation. Are gay families making the US world safer for all gay folks, or just for the ‘good gays’ who choose to live in traditional family structures, thereby making the world much less safe for those who seek other ways to live and form relationships and be sexual? I like Halberstam’s play on heteronormativity, and I think that this particular topic opens up into larger questions of ideology and power in terms of gender, sexuality, and intimacy that have implications for non-queers as well as for queers. Who gets to decide who the ‘good’ gay or straight person is, what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ sexual practice, and how the line gets drawn and by whom?
Posted by gr at October 28, 2005 06:14 PM