Reading Day 7
QueerEO #essay, #queer, #feminism, #gender, #sexuality
The meaning of the word ‘queer’ changed over time, but also bears different meanings at the same time and even changes depending on who uses the word. I, for instance, would never say: ‘My word, you do look queer.’ (Youtube) But in 1922, ‘queer’ in this context meant: ‘my word, you look unwell’ (Youtube). And was repeated as many as 12 times in a comic monologue written by Bert Lee and R.P. Weston. When I look up the word ‘queer’ in the 1828 Merriam Webster Dictionary, it comes up with: Odd; singular; hence, whimsical. This was before 1840, the year the word ‘queer’ was used for the first time to refer to a gay person, by John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry. (Autostraddle) In today’s version of the Merriam Webster dictionary, ‘queer’ fills no less than 2 pages. ‘Queer’ as meaning odd, strange, nauseous,... However, most young people will now associate the word ‘queer’ with gender identity. Or, as Merriam Webster puts it; ‘of, relating to, or being a person whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual and/or whose gender identity is not cisgender.’ To label yourself ‘queer’ can be positive. ‘Some sources trace the first adoption of “queer”, as a positive self-label, to the group Queer Nation, founded in the early 1990s as a radical organisation to combat violance agains homosexuals. By co-opting the word “queer,” QN claims, they have disarmed homophobes.’ (Colombia)
It is different to relate to another person as ‘queer’, because the word can become a slur. Hence, my hesitation with the first sentence. The first time I saw someone relate to themselves as ‘queer’ was on Instagram. It must have been 8 years ago, in fact I think it was the hashtag ‘queer’, used by one of my college friends. I am a cis gendered, heterosexual, she/her person. Words that are relatively new to me. And it was this week that I, for the first time, saw this description in an Instagram bio. Gender or sexuality is something that I never had to think about. It is like the perfectly fitted jeans, one that does not leave marks on my skin. So you almost forget you are wearing anything. But for some, these one-size-fit-all, mass produced jeans do not fit that well, they need a slight alteration. In an article by ‘One World’, Anne de Hooge states that: ‘The word “queer” can be used as a, fuck you, to the norm.’ That makes me think, not for the first time, who am I to write about ‘queer’. Am I like a white middle aged man writing about Feminism? I read an article from NPR, in which it is debated if it is appropriate to use the word ‘queer’ in their reporting. Mallory Yu, a producer for All Things Considered, states: ‘In terms of reporting, I think it’s really important to not use the word “queer” when someone does not identify that way.’
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