Dr. Katherine Stephenson
Dr. Katherine Stephenson
Associate Professor, French, Liberal Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, Department of Languages and Culture Studies
  • French for Reading Knowledge
  • French Women Writers in Translation
  • Elementary French II
  • Elementary French I

Contact Me

Email: ksstephe@uncc.edu

Links

  • Department of Languages and Culture Studies
  • UNC Charlotte
  • Women’s and Gender Studies Program
Courses » Queer Theory » Weekly Work » Week 13: Queering “Straight” Sex

Week 13: Queering “Straight” Sex

As many commentators have pointed out, despite the considerable amount of research on ‘sexuality’, heterosexuality remains, for the most part, relatively unquestioned. . . . However, presuming or tacitly accepting that heterosexuality is ‘natural’ or ‘normal’ does not simply make it so. In fact, if, as Foucault and others have argued, sexuality is a discursive construct that takes culturally and historically specific forms, then heterosexuality is no more normal or natural than any other form of sexual relations. —Nikki Sullivan, A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (119)

Required Readings

Sullivan, Ch. 7 “Queering ‘Straight’ Sex” (119-135)

[On Moodle2:]

Hall, “Queer Theories”, “A Query” (109-111)

McWhorter, “Bodies and Pleasures”, Introduction (xiii-xx), Ch. 1 “Views from the Site of Political Oppression: Or, How I Served as an Anchor Point for Power and Emerged as a Locus of Resistance” (1-33)

Graduate Readings (Moodle2:):

Eng, Halberstam and Muñoz, “Social Text” 84-85 (2005), Introduction “What’s Queer about Queer Studies Now?” (1-17)

Halberstam, “Social Text” 84-85, “Shame and White Gay Masculinity” (219-233)

Bersani, “After Sex”, “Shame on You” (91-109)

“Radical History Review” Issue 100 “Queer Futures” (2008), Editors’ Introduction (1-9); Weiss, “Gay Shame and BDSM Pride” (87-101)

Additional Resources

Public art project: Hey, Hetero! (Deborah Kelly and Tina Fiveash
2002)

Due This Week

  1. Ten key Terms or concepts in readings
  2. Two LGBTQIA representations
  3. Two LGBTQIA issues
  4. Queer Theory Week 13 Questions on Readings
  5. Group 5 Presentation: Dana Holland, Stephanie Pruitt, Mari[elena] Barnhill
  6. Partial draft of paper final due date (5050)
Skip to toolbar
  • Log In