Justice, Gender, Sexuality: Fall 2018

People have asked me since I changed my major from nursing, “What made you switch majors?”. I always tell them that ever since I discovered how important sex education is to children to hear about, I had to be the one to tell it. The question I want to elaborate on for my second blog post is, should we teach about queer history, and why? I absolutely think we should start teaching queer history in high school, and even in relationship classes. There are many reasons queer history should be included in our curriculum. I don’t believe it’s right that people, as educators, don’t teach minors how to have safe sex and healthy relationships. In Faderman’s book she states, “[Ronald] Reagen himself wouldn’t even utter the words AIDS until his good friend from Hollywood days, Rock Hudson, died of it in 1985”(pg 418). This helps prove that just because we don’t talk about AIDS doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. People still die even if it’s not talked about which is why if we have this conversa

Many of our earliest portrayals of history and introductions to history--the events that we tell ourselves have happened in the past--have never concretely happened.  I do not mean to say that the events of the Gulf War did not take place (as some might contest, though this--to be sure--is more of a statement than a denial), or that some egregious historical turning point never maturated; rather, I mean to articulate the stark reality of elementary human history--we learn myths first.  Our mythologies, whether stories of Arachne  or of Hercules, are our first and most solid histories.  The narratives of World War II, the stories of the USSR Gulags, the poems of the abolitionist movement--these stories (the real stories) are auxiliary to the mythology we learn first.  Should we, then, resolve this to be a crisis of pedagogy?  On the contrary, this is--perhaps--the way it should be.  Myth holds the important piece in the human narrative, the only continual piece.  What role, then, doe

History/Social Studies was my favorite subject in middle school and high school. I remember learning about various communities that have faced violence and oppression throughout history and I remember these situations best these are the moments when history brought us to live better as humans as a whole. Therefore, I think it is important to teach kids about communities who had to turn to resistance and activism to fight against their oppression. I think it is important for high school kids to learn about just how much oppressed communities fought for some basic human rights. I also think it is important for high school aged kids to learn about communities that they may be a part of or want to be a part of. When I was in high school I didn’t learn anything about queer history but now that I have, I think it would be beneficial for it to be in a high school history class’ curriculum. I think that if queer history was in a high school history class’ curriculum that students would begin

"What makes writing queer history so challenging? What moments from these histories provide us with especially vexing challenges to make sense of? Why is it important to grapple with them?" “…queers have lived often in ignorance of each other and of queer-relevant historical information from the near, as well as distant, past.” -        Donald Hall            For this blog post I wanted to focus on the fact that queer history has gone unrecorded and unreported, causing this inability for queer people to form a community and even mobilize for a long time as Donald Hall points out above. By looking into why queer history has gone unrecorded and unreported for so long, I think it will give us a lense through which to look at sexual expression and identity. I think that the failure to record queer history has affected the way that each generation has expressed and claimed their queer identity. On page 21 of Queer Theories , Hall seems to answer that questio

Resistance. To some, this word may connote an understanding and honoring of progressive freedom movements and to others, it may connote a way of living in the world. A constant battle against oppression, moving towards social acceptance and equality. And although it would be tempting to view resistance from a singular lens, it is of greater importance to recognize that the two are necessary for a clearer image. History and action are key, these two aspects have not only determined the course of past social justice movements, but also the ones lying ahead. Queer resistance is and will remain one of the most emblematic and effective venues towards justice and equality for the LGBTQIA+ community.  Queer history has undergone vast facets of oppression, but these very circumstances have been used as a catalyst, leading the community into various forms of resistance. From choosing to live out their days in non-conforming ways to the organized mobilization of the masses. Rather than su

In the years of taking history classes all throughout elementary to high school I have not discussed any of the topic that were brought up in this past lesson. Why have I not covered Queer History throughout my time in school? Shouldn't this automatically be incorporated into my history lessons? These are issues I have with this not being taught in classes because it is a large part of history. I have been in school for 12+ years and this is the first instance of me being taught about historical movements such as the Homophile movement, and the follow up of stonewall. These large historical movements happened in the 50’s-60’s important and revolutionary times for America so how is this not brought up? I believe it is left out of texts because Queer history is not a majority, meaning it does not apply to heteronormative standards.   What has made queer resistance possible and effective? I think that it is important to study the history of queer activism due to the fact that

To write history means to write the facts about what happened in a non-bias sense. Now, history can hardly ever get all the facts, but what about when sections are erased? Transgender people have their own section of queer history they can Transgender/Transsexual history due to the lack of inclusivity in queer history.  Hall explains that it is so hard to define queer history because by nature, “‘a’ queer history is nevertheless a problematic one. One of the most useful insights of late twentieth century critical theory ... is that ‘history’ is always an artificial construct”. But queer history generally lives in the land of sometimes claiming things as queer simply because it was unusual at the time and it links to liberation somehow. So why would it not be inclusive of transgender history? Namaste defies queer theory as exclusive and defines it is “absolute neglect of everyday life for transgender people” and claims it, “exhibits a remarkable insensitivity to the substantive i

I came upon a quote from Donald Hall’s book, Queer Theories , more than three weeks ago that is a perfect way to introduce my questions. Hall writes that “There would be no popular and effective lesbian and gay rights movement today without a process of historical data recovery, which opens up the possibility of affirming contemporary lives by looking backwards over time to find that we are not alone in our experiences of oppression and struggles for acceptance.” (Hall 22). With that, my questions for this second blog post is the following: why is it important for contemporary queer activists to know and understand queer history? What examples from the past are especially important to consider? Why? When becoming any kind of activist, the first thing that needs to be accomplished is to know the background behind the movement. It is no different for those who participate in contemporary queer activism. Being educated on the historical context on LGBTQIA+ rights will not only give the in

History plays a significant part in our lives as it helps shape the world that we live in today. As cliche as it may sound, in order to know where we are going -- we must know where we have been. Knowing and understanding our past is the only way that can help us avoid past mistakes, in the future.  When it comes to queer history -- it is crucial that we not only appreciate the past events that made resistance possible, but we need to acknowledge the legendary figures who contributed to making a difference in today’s society. Although there are many key events throughout queer history, the most pivotal event that shook up the 1970s is of course -- the Stonewall Riots.  What started as a routine raid at the Stonewall Inn turned into one of the biggest protests in queer history as members of the LGBT community fought back. The riot took place during the early morning hours of June 28th, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York. A crowd formed outside