The problem with co-opting 'queer' (via CNNOpinion)
Stephanie Fairyington is a journalist in New York City who writes on gender and sexuality. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. Read more opinion on CNN.
During Pride Month, a 40-year-old cisgender heterosexual guy friend, who's dating on OK Cupid, sent me a Gchat asking me to decode what it means to identify, as a prospective online match of his did, as"a straight, queer, sapiosexual, gender nonconforming, nonbinary, person who uses they/them pronouns." As Gen Xers, this profilee's earnest, messy mouthful made us laugh."What?!" we guffawed like old people who don't get it.
Stephanie FairyingtonMy friend's fundamental question was,"Is this person an anatomical female," a prerequisite for him to pursue the relationship sexually. While the troubling potential transphobia underpinning that formulation wasn't lost on me, I too was stumped by the person's use of the word"straight" followed by the word"queer.
Stonewall riots witness on Buttigieg's candidacy: It's mindblowing 02:52While I too support the desire to collapse hierarchies and bust binaries to be more inclusive and reflective of people's lived realities, I'm not sure a muddled mash-up of identities is an effective way to politically mobilize, which feels particularly urgent as our rights remain under siege in several red states.
These LGBT elders struggle with housing instability 07:59Like Samuel Delany, a 77-year-old renowned science fiction novelist who identifies as a"gay black man," I view the deployment of new terminologies as a way to expand understanding, but I simultaneously feel blotted out by the latest nomenclature. Today, it seems entirely uncool to assert one's lesbianism.
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