Conventional Conventions

[eumelia]

It's amazing how much our perceptions are just a matter of arbitrary perspective.

Yesterday, I was telling my parents about the LGBT studies and Queer theory conference that went on at Uni (the eighth "The Other Sex" con at Tel-Aviv University) and was asked if everyone there was as strange as I.

They said it as a joke (or not, I try not to dwell), but I couldn't help but think about it in a more critical way.

Am I strange?
I mean, really?
And in any event, define "not strange", or "normal", or "normative" - none of those are synonymous.
So beyond that little venture into semantics land, I have to say that this year's conference was fun, as I actually knew some of the people speaking on the panels and understood the theory that was being discussed there. Last year, was my first Queer academic conference and there was a whole lot that I didn't understand, other than what I had actually experienced as a queer person.

Where was I?
Oh, yes, the "strangeness".

Walking down the street, in my day to day life, I wear my political identity on my sleeve; which not everyone gets, understandably so, I suppose. Most of the time I feel as though I somehow escape the scrutiny of the hegemony because I don't break any societal conventions in the way I present myself to the world (correct me if I'm wrong IRL people). But I'm aware of where I and the "mainstream" meet and conflict, that place where I know that I don't fit into the categories society assumes to subject me to.

And today, at this conference, it's always amazing to hear the theories that describe the reality in which we live and the people who, along with me, don't fit the *deep breath* Patriarchal-heterosexist-Ashkenazi (i.e. white)-Jewish-nationalistic hegemony.

There is always a problem of representation. There wasn't any panel (that I saw) that touched on Bisexual identity specifically, there wasn't a whole lot about Trans' issues and there was a lot of Judith Butler bashing, which seems to be a trend in current post-structural theory and philosophy - which I don't get, personally.

There was a whole lot of talk on Queer identity, which a lot of times is used as an umbrella term for LGBT, but as (the amazing) Amalia Ziv said this evening, Queer is also an adjective and a verb... but not everyone has an identity which is fluid and shifting and changing.

I consider myself and call myself queer in certain circles, but I know that my some members of my family don't understand what I mean by "queer", but "bisexual" - with the baggage that word carries, is something most people who aren't queer themselves and know queer culture - is easier to understand, because it holds within the binary mainstream society insists we live as either homo or hetero, being bi is a little skew from that, but there is the option of one way or the other - with Queer, the options, the categories, themselves are put into question.

And that's what I felt what the conference was about; mainly about literary texts and more theorizing than practicality... but hey, this is academia, sometimes theory is the praxis.

Comments

[la-dame-boheme.livejournal.com]

I absolutely love reading your journal posts. It's very interesting to me to see and read and hear about issues on your side of the world, especially in the context comparing which issues are similar and which are the same. I live in the Midwestern United States, so seeing the opposite side of the coin, so to speak, is fascinating and definitely eye opening. And everything you speak about, you seem convicted and passionate about, and it's aboslutely fascinating to read.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

That's so nice of you to say, thank you very much.

This is what I think is best about the internet, you meet nd get to know so many people from different places all over the world.

[arnavtul.livejournal.com]

Oy. "normal". Well if you consider left wing politics and/or a queer consciousness as normal then no, no one there is "normal". I am quite sure your mom and dad would be horrified that an adult, and a fellow English teacher was there. With you she probably chalks it up to a youthful phase, sewing your wild oats, playing at being a radical. They would probably think I am a real deviant.

[arnavtul.livejournal.com]

*abnormal

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Well, seeing as they know adult gays (they never told me they were friends with a couple who live in Spain) I'm pretty sure they're just in denial about me and not about the entire world :)

I suppose I'll just have keep doing the things I'm doing until I'm thirty before they believe it isn't a "phase" :)

[arnavtul.livejournal.com]

oh and as Amalia said, if you want there to be bisexual representation, write and submit a paper :)
This really is a do it yourself conference.

[arnavtul.livejournal.com]

Or Roy said...
I do not remember who said it, but the person is right ;P

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

By next year I'll probably have something... maybe the "Iron Man" thing if there's a focus on pop-culture :D

And yeah, it was Roy the Gay Surfer Dude who said "submit" - ha, pun!

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

Judith Butler bashing?? *tear*

This is an interesting read, as I just had a long conversation with the boy last night about "normality", queerness, and what it all means. No conclusions, of course ;) But I am slightly worried about my own presentation as decidedly "strange" colouring his viewpoint of all queer people.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

What do you mean "strange"?
Obviously you can't speak for all queer and/or LGBT people, but you have experience with that community and have your own experience to glean from, no?

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

"Strange" to me simply means unconventional, or outside of societal norms. I am "strange" in terms of gender, especially in Kenya, though I don't know if I would call myself genderqueer per se. I would consider myself to be an activist, which many (if not most?) queer people are not. I'm also a feminist, which has nothing to do with being queer.

Sure, I can present others' experiences and talk about the community in general, but if I'm basically the only queer person he knows, it's still easy for him to make correlations based on his experiences interacting with me, you know? I'm probably not giving him enough credit, I just worry about these things :p It will be easier if he does end up coming to Canada where queerness is slightly more 'normalized'.

[flexibeast.livejournal.com]

What are the criticisms of Butler that you've been coming across?

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

What was mainly said was that zie appropriates tran' expirience in order to support hir theory and that the tools zie suggests for resistance of the gender hegemony aren't enough because they provide gender confusion of the object (the person we would be looking at) and not the subject (just because I'd confuse some who is a woman as a man or vice versa for instance, doesn't mean I'm confused about my own gender).

Those were the two main things I heard about Butler.