Queer Lit

Queer time flies! Especially when talking to Elizabeth Freeman, who is here, now, to talk about her ground-breaking work on queer temporality, kink, care and kinship. In this momentous episode, Beth minutely lays out her thoughts on temporal drag, deep lez, erotohistoriography and chrononormativity, while also commenting on the relevance of feminist scholarship that is sometimes perceived as dated. Beth’s reading (and watching) recommendations are second to none and I think you will instantly want to dive into all of them.

CW: mentions of queerphobia, transphobia, kink, death and illness

By Beth:
“We’re Only Making Plans for Nigel. In Response to Didier Eribon.” Qui Parle 18.2 (2010), 323-27.
The Wedding Complex (Duke UP, 2002)
Time Binds: Queer Temporalities, Queer Histories (Duke UP, 2010)
Beside You in Time (Duke UP, 2019)
Co-Editor (with Tyler Bradway) of Queer Kinship: Erotic Affinities and the Politics of Belonging (Duke UP, 2022)
Co-Editor (with Ellen Samuels) of Crip Temporalities, special issue of South Atlantic Quarterly (2021)
"The Book of Love is Long and Boring: Reading Aloud, Care Work, and Children's Literature." Solicited for Russ Castronovo and Leslie Bow, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Twentieth-Century American Literature.
“Committed to the End: On Caretaking, Rereading, and Queer Theory.” Solicited for Scott Herring and Lee Wallace, eds., Long Term: Essays on Queer Commitment.
“Sacramentality and the Lesbian Premodern,” in The Lesbian Premodern, eds. Noreen Giffneyet. al. (Palgrave Macmillan, New Middle Ages Series, 2011).
“Parasymptomatic Reading: Medical Kink, Care, and the Surface/Depth Debate” Differences. Forthcoming.

Other References:
Boston Marriages
Temporal drag
Judith Butler
Deep Lez
Chrononormativity
Allyson Mitchell Walter
Walter Benjamin
Homogeneous Empty Time
ACT UP!
Simone de Beauvoir
Erotohistoriography
"Queer Kinship" with Tyler Bradway
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48981244
Elisabeth Subrin’s Shulie
Isaac Julien
Frankfurt School
Historical consciousness
Marx
Chronopolitics
Dana Luciano’s Arranging Grief (2007)
Chronobiopolitics
Foucault’s Discipline and Punish
Biopolitics
Diane Bonder’s The Physis of Love
Cecilia Dougherty’s Coal Miner’s Granddaughter
Bertha Harris’ Lover
Panopticon
Shakers
Quakers
Scott Herring and Lee Wallace’s Long Term: Essays on Queer Committment
Sort of
Work in Progress
Djuna Barnes’ Nightwood
Faulkner

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is queer time? Which two ways of thinking about queer time does Elizabeth Freeman offer in the beginning of the episode?
2. Can you think of an example for temporal drag? Can you describe this phenomenon in your own words?
3. Beth talks about the importance of the body in thinking about queer rhythms. Why is the body so central and which examples does she give?
4. Which concept does Beth use to put pleasure back into history?
5. What is chrononormativity and how does it relate to heteronormativity?
6. What is a queer book you have read more than once? What did this experience of repetition do to your reading?

Dreams really do come true! In this episode, I get to chat to the legendary originator of the feminist killjoy herself: Sara Ahmed. We talk about who the killjoy is, what she can do for us and why it is important that you can both be her and have her as your companion. Sara talks about the people who inspired her in her work on complaint, happiness, and killjoy feminism: readers, students, poets and fellow theorists like bell hooks, Judith Butler and Audre Lorde. And of course we also talk about killjoy joy.

For some extra #killjoysolidarity, follow @saranahmed and @queerlitpodcast on Twitter or @saranoahmed and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram. Bonus: you’ll get to see Sara’s super sweet dogs Poppy and Bluebell!

CW: discussions of misogyny, homophobia, and racism

Referenced work by Sara Ahmed:
The Feminist Killjoy Handbook (2023)
Complaint! (2021) What’s The Use (2019)
Living a Feminist Life (2017)
The Promise of Happiness (2010)
Queer Phenomenology (2006)
The Cultural Politics of Emotions (2004)
Feministkilljoys.com
Saranahmed.com

Other References:
Gay’s The Word
bell hooks
Audre Lorde
Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy
Judith Butler
Lauren Berlant
Heidi Safia Mirza
Audre Lorde’s “A Litany for Survival”

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
1. Who or what is the feminist killjoy?
2. Why is it important that the killjoy is both within and outside of us?
3. What does Sara say about the role of poetry in her work? Which poet and thinker does she reference here?
4. What does Sara say about killjoy joy? Have you ever experienced killjoy joy?
5. Please read up on Sara’s work on happiness. How has happiness been instrumentalised against women and minoritised people?
6. Do you think you’re a feminist killjoy? Why or why not?

‘Cause we are living in a material world, Kadji Amin is here to talk about trans materialism! Kadji’s work is all about exploring what being trans means beyond gender identity. What are material reasons to transition or transgress gender expectations? How did our trancestors live as their chosen gender? And why does the history of trans women look quite different from that of trans men? In this episode, we talk about all of this and about how and why categories such as trans, cis, hetero and homo came to shape our queer lives.

CW: homophobia, transphobia, medicalisation of queerness, racism

References:
https://www.kadjiamin.com/
Kadji Amin’s Disturbing Attachments (Duke UP, 2017)
“Queer Form.” Coedited with Amber Jamilla Musser and Roy Pérez. Special issue, ASAP/Journal 2.2.
Amin, Kadji. (2023) “Taxonomically Queer?: Sexology and New Queer, Trans, and Asexual Identities,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 29.1: 91-107.
Amin, Kadji. (2022)“We Are All Non-Binary: A Brief History of Accidents,” Representations 158.1: 106-119.
Emily Skidmore
Jen Manion
Murray Hill
Empiricism
Michel Foucault’s History of Sexuality Vol. 1
Magnus Hirschfeld
“Trans Childhood” with Jules Gill-Peterson
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/46314264
Susan Stryker’s Transgender History
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49782773
Robert Stoller
Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues
https://lesliefeinberg.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Stone-Butch-Blues-by-Leslie-Feinberg.pdf

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Kadji talks about a ‘flattening effect’ of the term trans. What does this mean? Which dissymetries does Kadji mention?
2. How does Kadji describe the diverging historical lineages of transmasculine and transfeminine people?
3. What can be material reasons to transition? Please give at least two examples.
4. Kadji speaks about trans idealising cis. What does this mean?
5. Which term did Robert Stoller coin and to what end?
6. Why does Kadji find it useful to think about trans without gender identity? What do you think about this?

A whole entire episode about thriving queer spaces? I know I’ve been waiting for it. Come follow Jack Gieseking and I down the queerness hole, through the d*king glass, right into C+ntoland. The extraordinarily lovely Jack and I chat about transdisciplinarity, queer geographies, Eve Sedgwick, accessibility, hot water bottles and lesbian poetry. Jack explains what queers want from their spaces, why we crave novelty, what constellations are and, most importantly, why d*ke and lesbian bars are neither dead nor dying.

Have you come across any poems or zines about d*ke bars? Please let Jack and I know on Twitter: @jgieseking and @queerlitpodcast. You can also find Jack on Mastodon and Instagram and look at pictures of the podcast cats on Instagram.

CW: transphobia, homophobia, antiqueerness and illness

References:
http://jgieseking.org/
A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers, 1983-2008 (NYU Press, 2020)
Gender, Sexuality and Space Reading List
http://jgieseking.org/current-projects/gender-sexuality-space-reading-list/
Eve Sedgwick
Cindi Katz
Nancy K. Miller
Martin Manalansan
Kath Weston
Jack Halberstam’s In A Queer Time and Place
Joelle Taylor’s C+not & Othered Poems
Caroline Bird’s Air Year
Pat Parker’s “Where Will You Be” (1978)
https://soundcloud.com/ajmcclenon/pat-parker-where-will-you-be
The Lexington Club
She Bar
Jack Gieseking’s D*ke Bars: Queer Trans Spaces for the End Times
Magnus Hirschfeld
The Marlborough
Vanilla (@ vanillagirlsmcr )
Melissa Wright’s Disappearing Women and Other Myths of Global Capitalism
Femicide
The Ruby Fruit ( @therubyfruit )
#ResearchInFocus Jack Gieseking (video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWzc43-l2BI
ACT UP
Lesbian Avengers
Queer Nation
“Queer Data” with Carl Bonner-Thompson
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/48558974
Metronormativity
“Queer Cities” with Davy Knittle
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/46141754
Cait McKinney’s Information Activism

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. How does Jack describe environmental psychology and which other fields of research influence their work?
2. In Jack’s approach, how are locations in books or films relevant to queer geographies? Are you familiar with any literary or media representations of queer spaces?
3. What are Jack’s thoughts about common narratives of lesbian/d*ke bars?
4. What are ‘constellations’ in Jack’s work?
5. We talk about the contrasts between digital and physical queer spaces and constant versus ephemeral queer venues. Are any of these significant in your life?

Run, don’t walk! Lindsey Freeman (Simon Fraser University) joins me for a sprint through their most recent book on running. We talk about running while queer, running while female-bodied, running while gender-nonconforming… and we discuss all the wonderful things that a little jog can do.

If you’re in for the long run, follow @lindseyafreeman on Twitter or @atomic_lindsey_freeman on Instagram. Queer Lit is ambling along at @queerlitpodcast.

CW: antiqueer and antitrans violence, racism, murder

References:

Lindsey Freeman. Running. Duke UP, 2023.
http://www.lindseyfreeman.net/
Alan Turing
Lindsey Freeman. “The Beginning of a Montage of Alan Turing” Queer Runnings Magazine, issue 1: beginnings, 2022.
https://readymag.com/u102585954/3640808/ https://www.queerrunnings.com/
@mister.samo
“Queers in Sports” with Gabriel Knott-Fayle
https://www.spreaker.com/user/14328383/queer-lit-gabriel
99% Invisible “On Average”
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/on-average/
Eliud Kipchoge
Lauren Fleshman
Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength
Ahmaud Arbery
Hazel Meyer
Roland Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Why are gender and sexuality relevant to a sport like running? Are they?
2. In which contexts do we discuss vulnerability on this episode? You may want to learn more about vulnerability by reading Judith Butler’s work on the subject.
3. Lindsey and I discuss our different experiences of sports and queerness. What is your experience?
4. In the context of running trainers, we discuss why being inclusive is good for everyone. Can you think of another example where inclusive design benefits all?

What do inkblots have to do with activism? And where can I do a Master’s in that? The incredible Katherine Hubbard (University of Surrey) is here to tell you! Kat works in queer history, sociology and psychology and does a lot of brilliant scholarly and activist work about the complicated historical relationship of queers and psychology. She is also one of the people who have created the brand-new Master’s programme in sex, gender and sexuality at the University of Surrey. Kat joins me in the podcasting room to talk about why she loves this new programme and why queer academics need to talk more about emotions in teaching, research, and in the archives.

Tune in now to learn about how to queer the Rorschach test! You may or may not need a tote bag. And if it tickles your fancy, why not follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter.

CW: transphobia, medicalised queerness, aversion therapy, conversion therapy, mentions of sex

References:
Sex, Gender and Sexualities MSc
https://www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/sex-gender-and-sexualities-msc
SGS Sex, Gender and Sexualities Research Group
https://sgs.surrey.ac.uk/
Queer Ecologies Podcast
https://anchor.fm/queer-ecologies-pod
Manchester Science Festival
Sally Guilford
https://sallygilford.com/
Hermann Rorschach
https://www.blossomfoundation.org.uk/
@live.blossom (Instagram)
@blossomfound (Twitter)
Rebecca Wynter
Aversion therapy
Kate Davison
Hel Spandler
Sarah Marks
Conversion Therapy Report: https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/news/conversion-therapy-full-document-final-8-june-2022.pdf
Behaviourism
Conditioning
B. F. Skinner
Ivan Pavlov
FutureSex
https://www.futuresex.info/
David Griffiths
“Medieval Disney Queers” with Amy Louise Morgan
Fabio Fasoli
Queer Friction
Tribady
Tribbing
Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele’s Queer: A Graphic History


Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is the Rorschach test?
2. Have you heard of conditioning or behavourism before? If so, in which context?
3. What practices constitute aversion ‘therapy’?
4. Can you think of a queer film or book that depicts conversion ‘therapy’?
5. Please look up the term ‘tribady’. What are historical meanings and uses of the term? What does it mean in contemporary use?
6. Have you ever had an emotional response to doing queer research?

Who is your favourite queer Black character with a disability? Whether you can think of ten or none, this episode is for you. I had the most fun chatting with D’Arcee Charington Neal (Ohio State University) about all the places we can find queer Black characters with disabilities and the wondrous ways in which they shape narratives. As a researcher and creative writer, D’Arcee is interested in audio rhetoric and audio narratives that go far beyond your average Audible experience. Listen now to find out how the audio experience captures minoritised stories and what André 3000 has to do with all of this.

Want to keep up with the magical world of D’Arcee’s research? Follow @DrChairington on Twitter and check out @queerlitpodcast on Instagram.

CW: illness, trauma, coming out, homophobia, discrimination, racism, ableism
Light spoilers for Everything Everywhere All at Once

References:
D’Arcee Charington Neal. “Mutant and (Not) Proud: Disability Erasure in X-Men's Storm.” Cartoons of Future Past: Cultural Critiques of X-Men: The Animated Series (University of Mississippi Press, forthcoming)
D’Arcee Charington Neal. “Who is Asking? Black Arthurian Legendmaking in N.K. Jemisin's Far Sector.” Arthuriana (forthcoming)
Narrative ISSN
André 3000
Outkast “Where Are My Panties? (Interlude)”
Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman
James McAvoy
Taron Egerton
Modern Love Podcast “A Heart Outrun”
Colin Farrell
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/fashion/colin-farrell-modern-love-podcast.html
The Shade Room @theshaderoom
The Breakfast Club @breakfastclubam
The Tom Joyner Morning Show
Steve Harvey @steveharveyfm
Ebonics
Sheneneh Jenkins
Martin
AAVE African American Vernacular English
Henry Louis Gates
NeNe Leakes
Judith Butler
Performativity
Cece Adams
Storm
X-Men
Afrophantasm
Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower
Hyper-Empathy Syndrome
Jada Pinkett
Ariel
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s The Future is Disabled
N.K. Jemisin’s Far Sector
Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn
Green Lantern
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Michelle Yeoh
Angela Bassett
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Encanto
https://www.vox.com/culture/23025832/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-parental-apology-fantasy-turning-red

Links to D’Arcee’s podcast episodes:
Episode 1: https://drive.google.com/file/d/100Y7hChK3DR8aAPfot1QoWERPKwzKQi_/view?usp=drivesdk
Episode 2: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CJmqUxUBfT7oLcYIoHVwd-psMSXCsK40/view?usp=drivesdk
Episode 3: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mg2j2STi4pfaJVRXo1sm4GPLKFyqM1Uj/view?usp=drivesdk

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. We speak a lot about the power of audio narratives. Why does D’Arcee find this format crucial in articulating minoritized stories?
2. D’Arcee speaks about Afrophantasm. What does this mean and who coined this term?
3. Can you think of an example of Afrophantasm in literature or culture?
4. Can you think of another film, series or book that uses the ‘parents apologising’ trope? What relevance does this hold in a queer setting?
5. Please look up the term disability justice. What does this mean to you?

This fortnight, we’re going east (and back in history) with fabulous historian Tuğçe Kayaal (Furman University). Tuğçe explains how she queers history and the archives, how she researches homoerotic intimacies in poetry and advice books, and what religion has to do with morals, relationships and friendships. She talks about the most frequently misunderstood aspects of the Ottoman empire and what it’s like teaching homoeroticism in texts from the Middle East.

If you want to learn more, why not follow @tkayaal and @queerlitpodcast on Twitter? The podcast also produces mediocre Instagram content for your perusal.

CW: We discuss paedophilia versus intergenerational relationships, sexual violence, homophobia, and religion.

References:

Miss Melina
Freddie Mercury
Beylik
George-Louis Buffon
Babayan, Kathryn. The City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern Isfahan. Stanford University Press, 2021.
Semerdjian, Elyse. “Naked Anxiety: Bathhouses, Nudity, and Dhimmi Woman in 18th-Century-Aleppo.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 45, no. 4 (2013): 651-676.
Kayaal, Tuğçe. “ ‘ Twisted Desires,’ Boy Lovers, and Male-Male Cross-Generational Sex in the Late Ottoman Empire (1912-1918).” Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques 46, no.1 (2020): 31-46.
Najmabadi, Afsaneh. Women with Mustaches and Men without Beards: Gender and Sexual Anxieities of Iranian Modernity. University of California Press, 2005.
Andrews, Walter G. & Mehmet Kalpakli. Age of Beloveds: Love and the Beloved in Early-Modern Ottoman and European Culture and Society. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005.
Kobabe, Mai. Gender Queer: A Memoir. Oni Press, 2019. Sufism Sunni Mustafa Galib, Fahişeler Hayatı ve Redaet-i Ahlakiyye, 1922 Enderunlu Fazıl, Zenanname, 1695 Gelibolulu Mustafa Ali, Mevaidün Nefais Fi Kavaidil Mecalis, 16th Century.
Konya
The Queery

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What is the Ottoman Empire?
2. Which factors play into the increasing emphasis on procreational heteronormative sex in the late Ottoman Empire?
3. Does Tuğçe see Sufism or Sunni Islam as more open to same-sex desire?
4. How is female sexuality viewed in the examples Tuğçe mentions?
5. What does the term cross-generational mean in the contexts we discuss? What are your thoughts on childhood in a historical context?

In this dynamic discussion, Dr Gabriel Knott-Fayle (University of Calgary) and I talk about cisgenderism, heteronormativity and masculinity in sports and sports media. We discuss how trans* and queer bodies are treated and medicalised in narratives surrounding different sports but also how (amateur) sporting environments can be affirming and create safe spaces. Although as queers so many of us have negative encounters with sports, it can also be a great place to socialise with other members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community and to treat our strong bodies with the love they deserve. Whether you’re a Sporty Queer or not, this episode should not be missed!

The ball is in your court: Follow @DrKnottFayle and @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter and let us know about your queer sporting experience!

CW: transphobia, homophobia, bullying, hate speech, antiqueer violence

References:

Knott-Fayle, Gabriel, Elizabeth Peel, and Gemma L. Witcomb. "(Anti-) feminism and cisgenderism in sports media." Feminist Media Studies (2021): 1-18.

Gender Diversity and Sport: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Increasing Inclusivity (edited by Elizabeth Peel and Gemma Witcomb, Routledge, 2022)

Knott-Fayle, Gabriel. “World Cup 2022: Men’s soccer must stop silencing activism and allyship.” The Conversation (2022). https://theconversation.com/world-cup-2022-mens-soccer-must-stop-silencing-activism-and-allyship-195087 “

Queer Wizards and Neurodiversity” with Jes Battis https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51938443
Martina Navratilova
The Politician
Justin Fashanu
Isabel Waidner’s Sterling, Karat, Gold
Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength
DSD Differences of Sexual Development
Thomas Page McBee’s Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man
Chilling Adventured of Sabrina

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. What are Gabriel’s main research interests and what do they have to do with queerness in sports?
2. Gabriel speaks about cisgenderism in sports media. What does this mean?
3. In this episode, we identify some of the ways in which trans athletes are presented in negative ways by various media. Can you name some of the mechanisms we discuss? Feel free to add other and/or examples.
4. How can sporting environments be affirmative for queer people?
5. How do you see sports represented in queer narratives? Can you think of an example?

Legend-alarm! We have queer anthropology’s parent on the podcast: Prof Esther Newton joins me to talk about queer spaces, drag shows, lesbian festivals, and about how all the lesbians ended up in Cherry Grove. Esther explains why every queer person should experience being in the majority at least once in their life and how this might allow you to see things you have never quite seen before. She talks about her personal relationship to queer spaces, communities and research and about why everyone’s so into Gentleman Jack.

Still looking for the cherry on top of Cherry Grove? Check out Esther’s work here (https://www.esther-newton.com) and follow @queerlitpodcast on Instagram and Twitter.

Works by Esther:

Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America (Prentice Hall, 1972; University of Chicago Press, 1978)
Womenfriends with Shirley Walton (Friends Press, 1976)
"The Mythic Mannish Lesbian: Radclyffe Hall and the New Woman." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 9.4 (1984): 557-575.
Cherry Grove, Fire Island: Sixty Years in America's First Gay and Lesbian Town (Duke UP, 1993)
Margaret Mead Made me Gay: Personal Essays, Public Ideas (Duke UP, 2000)
My Butch Career: A Memoir (Duke UP, 2018)

Other References:

Judith Butler
Chicago School
@someprefercake
Jean Carlomusto
https://www.esthernewtonmademegay.com/
Queering Desire (forthcoming collection, Routledge, 2023)
Colorado Springs
Jack Parlett’s Fire Island: A Century in the Life of an American Paradise (Granta Books, 2022)
“Older Lesbians” with Jane Traies https://www.spreaker.com/episode/51171899
Provincetown
Anne Lister Birthday Week
Gentleman Jack (Season 1)
Jill Livington’s Female Fortune and Nature’s Domain
Sally Wainwright
Shibden After Dark Podcast
Leanne Mertzman and Mary Schwartz
The L Word

Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:

1. Where did Esther Newton’s research journey start?
2. Which event caused the lesbian community in Cherry Grove to grow? Have you heard of similar dynamics in other contexts?
3. Which majority queer spaces other than Cherry Grove do we mention in the episode? Can you think of others?
4. Why does Esther find that Anne Lister is such an important figure in queer history?
5. When it comes to queer rights, how can things get better and worse at the same time?