Journal articleIssue 12025
“Queer Visibility”: The Predominance of Visual Exposure in Queer Politics
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author
Lotte Manders
abstract
This paper examines how the narrative of activist progress, specifically related to the contemporary use of “queer visibility”, relates to Guy Debord's concept of the “situation”. Through a critical theory lens focusing on how identity is mediated through media, this study explores the relationship between queer identity and visibility, illuminating how being visible is also being partial. The paper argues that contemporary “queer visibility” may imply that being visible already means contesting the norm, however, the visible can make passive in certain instances while making active in others. By bringing Debord's situationist theory into conversation with Judith Butler's notion of queer identity formation and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's definition of paranoia, this paper concludes that effective queer politics requires remaining critical and taking an active position in shaping dialogues between generalities and exclusions.