Political Economy of Heteronormativity
In: Sage Journals, Review of Radical Political Economics (2021) - Published Online, available at https://doi.org/10.1177/04866134211011269
In: Sage Journals, Review of Radical Political Economics (2021) - Published Online, available at https://doi.org/10.1177/04866134211011269
SSRN
In: Review of radical political economics, Band 55, Heft 1, S. 112-131
ISSN: 1552-8502
This paper investigates the relationship between heteronormativity, queerness, and neoliberal capitalism. By reinterpreting the 1997 Recognition-Redistribution debate between Nancy Fraser and Judith Butler through a social reproduction lens, I show that Butler's position is broadly consistent with a social reproduction analysis of heteronormativity. Through stabilizing the gender division of labor, promoting the normative heterosexual family, and contributing to the internal stratification within the working class, heteronormativity fulfills critical social-reproductive roles. Queer emancipation, therefore, cannot be realized without an overhaul of the political economic structure. As relations of reproduction change under neoliberal capitalism, what is constituted as queer is also altered in ways that incorporate queerness into capitalist value production. Mainstream narratives of LGBT progress obscure the emerging division between queers with capital and queers without, a division undergirded by familiar contradictions of racialized, heteronormative, reproductive capitalism. JEL Classification: B51, B54, P16
In: Development: journal of the Society for International Development (SID), Band 52, Heft 1, S. 52-55
ISSN: 1461-7072
In: Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
This thesis offers a London-based contemporary study of sexuality at home. I draw from architectural history, feminist and queer theory as well as geographies of sexualities to interrogate the stability of domesticity. Highlighting everyday homemaking practices of more than 40 non-heterosexual households in London, I seek to complicate one overarching regime of power that dominates our cultural value system: heteronormativity – the idea that normative heterosexuality is the default sexuality to which everyone must conform or declare themselves against. The project is a response to three decades of academic research that has looked at the spatialised ways in which sexual identity unfolds in, for the most part, peripheral zones in the 'Western' metropolis, spaces beyond the domestic realm. This thesis takes a different architectural approach; one where through interviewing 47 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Londoners, as well as eleven domestic tradespeople that work in these homes, agency is given to small-scale domestic interventions and everyday actions. The concept of 'queering' is important to the framework, which, in the context of the thesis, is understood as an on-going process that LGBTQ people are engaged in through homemaking and daily living. Although some participants may not see this as a political act, I argue otherwise and suggest queering at home is a form of political activism. Through mundane domestic actions the overarching structure of heteronormativity might be challenged. I contend that queering the home unfolds in various, complex and conflicting ways. The thesis seeks to provoke both queer theory and politics, by opening up existing approaches and remits to allow room for a domestic method. In addition, the thesis seeks to challenge assumptions within architecture but also in the wider sense. I aim to break down stereotypes surrounding non-heterosexual homemaking practices that architectural studies and media representations problematically reproduce.
BASE
In: Political studies: the journal of the Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom, Band 55, Heft 3, S. 656-679
ISSN: 1467-9248
The writings of Judith Butler are now canonised in the fields of feminist and queer theory, yet her contribution to politics and her role in the field of political theory remain uncertain. I argue, perhaps uncontroversially, that Butler's is a politics of subversion; I also contend, perhaps more contentiously, that Butler's understanding of subversion only takes clear shape in light of her implicit theory of heteronormativity. Butler's work calls for the subversion of heteronormativity; in so doing her writings both illuminate the general problem of normativity for politics and offer a robust response to that problem. Butler resists the tendency to treat norms as merely agreed-upon standards, and she rebuts those easy dismissals of theorists who would take seriously the power of norms thought in terms of normativity and normalisation. Butler's contribution to political theory emerges in the form of her painstaking unfolding of subversion. This unfolding produces an account of the politics of norms that is needed desperately by both political theory and politics. Thus, I conclude that political theory cannot afford to ignore either the theory of heteronormativity or the politics of its subversion.
In: 56 Washburn L. J. 245 (2017)
SSRN
In: Global gender
"Gender, Heteronormativity and the American Presidency places notions of gender at the centre of its analysis of presidential campaign communications. Over the decades, an investment in gendered representations of would-be leaders has changed little, in spite of the second and third wave feminist movements. Modern candidates have worked vigorously to demonstrate "compensatory heterosexuality," an unquestionable normative identity that seeks to overcome challenges to their masculinity or femininity. The book draws from a wide range of archived media material, including televised films and advertisements, debates and public speeches, and candidate autobiographies. From the domestic ideals promoted by Eisenhower in the 1950s, right through to the explicit and divisive rhetoric associated with the Clinton/Trump race in 2016; intersectional content and discourse analysis reveal how each presidential candidate used his or her campaign to position themselves as a defender of traditional gender roles, and furthermore, how this investment in "appropriate" gender behaviour was made manifest in both international and domestic policy choices. This book represents a significant and timely contribution to the study of political communication. Whilst communication during presidential elections is a well-established research field, Aidan Smith's book is the first to apply a gendered lens over such an extended historical period and across the political spectrum."--Provided by publisher.
In: Global gender
In: Political studies, Band 55, Heft 3, S. 656-679
ISSN: 0032-3217
In: Multicultural perspectives: an official publication of the National Association for Multicultural Education, Band 1, Heft 3, S. 7-13
ISSN: 1532-7892
Introduction: educating masculinity & heteronormativity -- Going to college: meetings & methods -- Geographies of life: work, space, & relations -- Myths of community: materialist practices and student subjectivities -- Sexuality in education: the university's marital pushes and programs -- "Lets bang!": heteronormativity & the divide of sociality/sexuality -- Conclusion: sociality in education as a form of pedagogic becoming
Since the 1980s, in spite of societal shifts and legislation that supports women of diverse sexual identities, heterosexual norms still prevail in many workplaces. In this paper we apply Acker's (2006a) 'inequality regime' as a potential framework to unravel heteronormative practices. We use snippets from our lesbian herstories to illustrate how heteronormativity has affected our lives as women in academe. Through this paper we alert lesbian colleagues to our proposed research project on heteronormativity in academic workplaces and ask that they consider participating in this research.
BASE
In: Development: journal of the Society for International Development (SID), Band 52, Heft 1, S. 84-90
ISSN: 1461-7072
In: Development: the journal of the Society of International Development, Band 52, Heft 1, S. 84-90
ISSN: 0020-6555, 1011-6370
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