Queer Bodies In Popular Media

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Queer bodies in popular media have frequently become a topic of conversation among audiences and creators. In the recent years, the inclusion of queer people in fictional works has steadily increased . Ranging from Pride Parades to the movie Love, Simon, queer bodies have developed their own stake in politics. However, the growing visibility of queer bodies has created avenues to politicize queer bodies against their own community. However, before going any further with this idea, it is necessary to set parameters for the ‘political’ that will be discussed. For the sake of this argument, politics is defined as: the activity or process by which groups reach and enforce binding decisions . Rather than focusing solely on the activities committed …show more content…

Albeit the idea that a person’s sexuality, romantic, and gender identity should not be a tool to judge, the currently exercised norms established by politic have made it difficult to dismiss an individual’s nonconforming attitude. Considering Foucault’s analyze of disciplined bodies , queerness is an example of “bodily rhetoric”, but it is unlike the “honour” of a soldier. It is bodily rhetoric because queerness functions as a signal of opposition to the predominantly heterosexual and cisgender narrative. Queerness morphs from a person’s identity to a tool that can easily reduce a multifaceted human being to their genitals or sexual …show more content…

He claims docile bodies are entities that can be “subjected, used, transformed and improved” . The presence of queer bodies in media is a direct reflection of a larger overarching treatment in society. Being queer rejects the status quo of heterosexuality and/or cisgender. The repression and ridicule of nonconforming people leads to a structure that permeates a myriad of cultures. As Judith Butler mentions in her book regarding Julia Kristeva, “The ‘subject’ who emerges as a consequence of this repression becomes a bearer or proponent of this repressive law.” Seeing queer people as the ‘subject’ emerging from heterosexual and cisgender politics, it allows better consideration of their stance in society and its

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