Chpt 19 1 Rachel Jermansky Page Number 1 March 28 2014 Sex Relationships and Communication COMM 1131 01 CRN 36714 Chapter 21 Quare Studies Part II Bringing it on home Quare studies on the back porch 1 There is both intellectual work and political praxis outside the academy that needs to be done a Quares cannot afford to be armchair theorists b Some of us need to be in the streets trenches c Quare theorists must make theory work for its constituency d Although we share with our white queer peers sexual oppression gays lesbians bisexuals and trans people of color also share racial oppression with other members of our community i Cannot afford to abandon them simply b c they are heterosexual e Quare studies must encourage strategic coalition building around laws and politics that have the potential to affect us across racial sexual and class divides f Therefore I offer a manifesto that aligns black quare academic theory with political praxis 2 We can do more in the realm of public policy a Must intervene in the failure of the conservative black leadership s response to b Must aid in the education and prevention of the spread of HIV as well as care for c Volunteer work fundraising d Train academics to deconstruct the way HIV AIDS is discussed in the academy e Physical help brothers and sisters who are living with HIV AIDS through HIV AIDS those who are suffering and medical profession outreach and fundraising f Combat racist homophobic discourse in white and black communities g Use academic credentials and political praxis in the service of social change 3 Goal of quare studies to be specific and intentional in the dissemination and praxis of quare studies to translate its political potential a Critiquing the relationship b w theory and practice lettered unlettered ivory tower front porch is crucial for a joint and sustained critique of hegemonic systems of oppression 4 Quare theorists must value and speak from what hooks refers to as homeplace a homeplace the one site where one can freely confront the issue of humanization where one can resist the site where people of color live out the contradictions of our lives i ii provides us with a place from which to critique the oppression iii site that gave us the equipment for living in a racist society iv homeplace is a diverse site 5 Homeplace is also a site which quare praxis must critique Chpt 19 2 a As a marginally safe place to critique oppression outside its confines but also a site to deploy quare theory to address oppression within homeplace itself i Critique the black church which remains for some a sustaining site of spiritual affirmation comfort and artistic outlet ii Cannot dismiss the black church in quare lives but cannot fail to critique its continual denial of gay and lesbian subjectivity iii We must force the black church to name us and claim us if we are to obtain any liberation w in our own communities 6 Quare praxis in regard to ideological and political conflicts in gay lesbian and transgendered communities of color must interrogate and negotiate differences among our differences a Must address interracial dating b Explore our own inner conflicts around our choices of sexual partners across racial lines c Explore relations b w out and closeted members of our communities 7 I summon quare studies an as interventionist disciplinary project a Need to address needs of gay lesbian bisexual and transgendered people across issues of race gender class and other subject positions b Need to theorize the practice of everyday life i Because we exist in material bodies we need a theory that speaks to that reality Chpt 22 Activism and Identity Through The Word A Mixed Race Woman Claims her Space 1 wanted to reserve a place for myself in the space of Asian Pacific America APA a Speak out as a bisexual poor young mixed blood survivor of sexual b Acknowledge that I will not fully be accepted in APA or queer communities violence woman b c I fall out of the boundaries 2 My skin color and appearance betray my Asian American identity a Bisexual identity invites assumptions that I cannot make up my mind or still questioning b Stigma is attached to queer and Asian American 3 Racial identification is Afro Chinese American a Part of my activism is claiming my own agency and naming myself b Such naming has been difficult for my immigrant mother and my African American father 4 Born in Oakland CA in 1981 a Father post Black power b Mother learning what America was all about i Disowned for dating my father ii Married then pregnant with me iii Raised to be moral and religiously righteous iv Taught to be an obedient Chinese daughter because at the time being black was more a burden than something to be proud of 5 Growing up Chpt 19 3 a Reprimanded when I spoke of sex b Told never to touch myself down there c Be a good woman who would someday become some man s wife d Never told anyone about my sexual explorations or how I felt about girls e What age do psychologists expect girls to grow out of same sex experimenting 6 In School a Called names picked on for not acting like aregular girl b Curious about porn shared with a girl friend who blabbed I was shamed and c Assumed boys didn t like me b c I was ugly weak and wore secondhand clothes not because I posed a sexual threat to them d Girls avoided me afraid I would try something on them e Hard being branded lesbo or pervert and also one of few mixed race people ostracized at school 7 First time I knew a self identified queer in high school a biracial girl a Always dressed as a tomboy b Girls she hung with gossiped about her c The following year came in leather pants combat boots spiked collars hair shaved and came out i Immediately ostracized by her old friends and quickly made new ones goth kids ii Began a new trend of experimental sexual encounters with some of the younger female students at the school 8 Watching her become brave and come out I felt that there was no reason I should deny part of who I was a Past was living a secret life or two lives undercover chines American girl and undercover girl who loved girls and boys occasionally b Coming out sexually and coming to terms w my identity there was always some kind of backlash i ii iii iv from men who thought I was not women enough from white feminists who rejected my theories of women of color feminism from GLBTQ community organizations dominated by white queers where I was not accepted or seen as a token from my mother whose sole want was