{"id":2034,"date":"2022-10-01T02:02:28","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T06:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/?p=2034"},"modified":"2022-10-01T02:04:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-01T06:04:11","slug":"terms-and-definitions-expanding-the-word-queer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/2022\/10\/01\/terms-and-definitions-expanding-the-word-queer\/","title":{"rendered":"Terms and Definitions: Expanding the Word \u201cQueer\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terms and definitions for various genders and sexualities are important to non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people and queer theorists. Every letter in the acronym LGBTQ+ represents a different word with a different definition, but it\u2019s not just a definition. These words give language to describe the identities of real people. Since LGBTQ+ is a bit of a mouthful to say and does not necessarily encompass every non-cishet identity even with the expanded LGBTQQIAAP acronym, the term \u201cqueer\u201d has been used as a broad substitute in order to include all people who fall outside of heteronomativiy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In <\/span>Queer Time and Place<\/span><\/i> by Judith Halberstam, he suggests that \u201cif we try to think about queerness as an outcome of strange temporalities, imaginative life schedules, and eccentric economic pratices, we detach queerness from sexual identity and come closer to understanding Foucault\u2019s comment in \u2018Friendship as a Way of Life\u2019 that \u2018homosexuality threatens people as a \u2018way of life\u2019 rather than as a way of having sex\u2019\u201d (1). As the definition of the word queer becomes more inclusive of time, space, and economy instead of gender and sexuality, it expands the definition and experience of being queer in a heternormative world. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first definition of queer as an adjective means \u201cstrange, odd, peculiar, eccentric,\u201d and another definition describes it as slang for one who is \u201cconspiculously or flamboyantly homosexual.\u201d These two definitions of queer as an adjective are being used in both ways in Halberstam\u2019s argument.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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While he says to \u201cdetach queerness from sexual identity,\u201d the multiple meanings of this word, and these two provided in particular, cannot be separated (1). Halberstam\u2019s queer definition is expansive, not exclusionary of the basis for why the queer community is called such in the first place. In contrast to this statement, the use of the word queer when referring only to gender and sexuality can reduce the other nonconforming aspects of a queer person\u2019s life experience. This is why Halberstam cites Michel Foucault: \u201c\u2018homosexuality threatens people as a \u2018way of life\u2019 rather than as a way of having sex\u2019\u201d (1). There are aspects of queer life in regards to gender and sexuality that affect other aspects of life such as time, space, and economy that are not experienced in the same way from a cisgender, heterosexual person to a queer person. For example, the heteronormative time of life as Halberstam notes progresses as such: \u201cbirth, marriage, reproduction, and death\u201d (2). The duration it takes to reach these life milestones or the absence of their achievement may be ways in which queer temporalities are created. Additionally, these life moments fuel capitalism. Jobs hire you expecting you to work until retirement which is about 40 years. A queer life cut short by disease cannot be afforded in a system dependent on human labor. Furthermore, the fact that same-sex couples cannot naturally reproduce or do not utilize scientific advancements to have their own children also do not follow this expected life schedule that has served heterosexual couples forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Halberstam allows the reader to consider and rethink the definitions and connotations of the word queer and what that does for aspects of life not immediately related to sexuality and gender.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Terms and definitions for various genders and sexualities are important to non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people and queer theorists. Every letter in the acronym LGBTQ+ represents a different word with a different definition, but it\u2019s not just a definition. These words give language to describe the identities of real people. Since LGBTQ+ is a bit of … Continue reading Terms and Definitions: Expanding the Word \u201cQueer\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5033,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[169404],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2022-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2034\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/everythinginbetween\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}