"Q" Is For Queer

This blog explores some of the many definitions of queer through the lives and/or biographies of Sims.

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Queer verb

 to change and manipulate the normative structure, identity etc.

see also: to change, shape, form

people who use it in this way: mostly queer theorists, anyone who is currently or has studied queer theory for any amount of time, WGST professors, theorists, and students.

Nadja: When I started studying Queer Theories, i fell in love with queer as a verb. Like many of my friends, who have reclaimed queer as an identity and something positive to associate ourselves with, I too identify as queer. I think the biggest limit to using queer as a verb is the connotation that queer always has to be associated with gayness. Donald Hall says that he wants to queer us. And that “the fear is always that the “queer” noun will take on a transitive verb from, will spread its queerness, convert others, awaken discontent, and undermine the system.” I agree with this statement. People aren’t afraid of LGBTQIA+ people, they hate nonconformity, they hate challenges to the system and they hate that the power of the slur being weakened against us. Like the other members of this group, I think that the most commonly known definition of the word queer is the slur, with the reclaimed identity very close behind it. However it’s very difficult to reclaim a word that has been used against you, women have tried to do it with bitch, slut, cunt etc. but they’re still being used in derrogatory ways against women, and against people who don’t identify as women as something you don’t want to be. We can reclaim these terms all we want, but we cant erase the history behind them as much as we want to. 

[q-is-for-blog]

Queer verb

 to change and manipulate the normative structure, identity etc.

see also: to change, shape, form

people who use it in this way: mostly queer theorists, anyone who is currently or has studied queer theory for any amount of time, WGST professors, theorists, and students.

Nadja: When I started studying Queer Theories, i fell in love with queer as a verb. Like many of my friends, who have reclaimed queer as an identity and something positive to associate ourselves with, I too identify as queer. I think the biggest limit to using queer as a verb is the connotation that queer always has to be associated with gayness. Donald Hall says that he wants to queer us. And that “the fear is always that the “queer” noun will take on a transitive verb from, will spread its queerness, convert others, awaken discontent, and undermine the system.” I agree with this statement. People aren’t afraid of LGBTQIA+ people, they hate nonconformity, they hate challenges to the system and they hate that the power of the slur being weakened against us. Like the other members of this group, I think that the most commonly known definition of the word queer is the slur, with the reclaimed identity very close behind it. However it’s very difficult to reclaim a word that has been used against you, women have tried to do it with bitch, slut, cunt etc. but they’re still being used in derrogatory ways against women, and against people who don’t identify as women as something you don’t want to be. We can reclaim these terms all we want, but we cant erase the history behind them as much as we want to. 

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Queer adjective

A person or thing that is strange or weird

See also: peculiar, odd, non-normative

People who use it this way are writers, usually before the 19th century (when it became a slur).

Taylor: I know that I’ve always been strange. I’m a lesbian, I collect trinkets like snow globes and thimbles, I dress like this.Meg-John Barker wrote “in the 16th century English speaking countries, referred to something strange or illegitimate as queer. Like ‘there’s nowt as queer as folk.’” there’s even evidence of this usage in American phrasing “‘queer as a three dollar bill.’ from a similar time, suggesting odd and suspicious.” Nowadays people don’t think of the original meaning of strange when they hear the word queer. It's become a word that’s drenched in hatred and oppression. I think if we could separate certain meanings from the word it would be possible to use it in this way, but there's no way to separate the connotation from it anymore. It will take a lot of time and effort to strip away the power the slur had, and still has to this day.

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Queer noun

An umbrella term for people who may identify as LGBTQIA+ individuals.

People who are outside the “mainstream”

See also: the gay community, the queer community

People who use it: anyone who may identify as LGBTQIA+, people who don’t identify as LGBTQIA+ but aren’t considered normative. 

Jon: Okay so for me, I like the term queer because that feels right for me. I never quite fit in to the sort of normative box society sets up for everyone to pile into. I was reading Kate Bornstein one time for fun, Auntie Kate, and she had a quote from Judith Halberstam on “Queer Creatures” which, and I’m paraphrasing, is about Batman and Catwoman engaging in sex, and their encounter was queer, “because it was not heterosexual they were not man and woman… the sexual encounter was queer because both of the partners are queer and the genders of the participants are less relevant.” What I got out of it is, besides the fact that she thinks that there’s nothing straight about fucking wearing latex and eye masks with whips, hello S&M, there are a lot of ways to think about queerness that aren’t related to gender and sexuality as we generally refer to them. Queerness most often relates to non heterosexual, non-cisgender, non-normative people. The limitations of this are getting people to see queerness not in relation to gender and sexuality. There’s also the queer and queerer umbrella debate which makes us think about who is queer and who’s really in power in certain communities.

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Queer: noun, informal offensive

A slur most commonly directed at cisgender men that identify as gay

See also: pansy, f*gg*t, friend of Dorothy

People who use it: non-LGBTQIA+ people as a derogatory word for LGBTQIA+ people

Gus: Edison brought in the graphic history for our club to read and it touches on a lot of things that we experienced. And in it we learned that “the earliest recorded use of ‘queer’ as a form of homophobic abuse is said to be an 1894 letter by John Sholto Douglas… he was the father of Alfred Douglas and famously accused Oscar Wilde of having an affair with his son.” During and after the 19TH century queer didn't mean strange anymore. Or it did but in a very different context. This letter was in a way the signal that it's okay to use ‘queer as hate speech. 

Allen:Growing up as a gay Jewish child, it was always weird to see which part of my identity people would pick apart more. I wasn’t out until after high school and a little before i met Gus, but people, usually men who looked a lot like me:tall, white, thin, would just hurl queer and faggot at me. It hurt a lot, but I knew that it would hurt a lot more if they had put any effort into their name calling. Just word vomiting slurs at people doesn't take a lot of skill. But after Gus and i got together I found it was a lot easier to deal with the slurs. But a lot of our older friends don’t reclaim queer because it's still a site of pain, and its uncomfortable.

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Queer: noun

an identity or sexual orientation for someone who is not heterosexual or not cisgender

See also: bi,pan, non-binary; 

People who use it: younger LGBTQIA+ identified people, people who have reclaimed it

Edison: okay so I was reading Queer: a graphic history and it talked about reclaiming queer. “In the 1980s, people in LGBT communities began to reclaim the word “queer” as either a neutral word to describe themselves, or as a positive form of self-identity. One early example was the activist group Queer Nation who circulated a “Queers Read This” flyer at the 1990 New York Pride march.” 

Anyssa: Do you think there are any limitations on using the word queer as an identity?

Edison: Yeah, just the other day Gus and Allen were talking about their anniversary party. They’ve been together for over thirty years but they only got married five years ago because “gay”/same-sex marriage was illegal. For them “queer” as an identity might be possible for younger generations but for them it's still a slur; and people who may identify as queer have to realize that not everyone will be okay wit reclaiming queer but it's okay if you do.

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hi I’m Anyssa. This project “Q is for: defining queer” is a project for my queer theories class. I asked six people in the Glimmerbrook Sims Society who identify as LGBTQIA+ to define five definitions of the word queer and what that means to them.