This dissertation will focus specifically on queer deployments of femininity. I use queer here in two registers: both to refer to one’s nonnormative relationship to gender and/or sexuality and to how people are “made queer” by virtue of their shared subordination in relation to power (Ahmed, 2006; Cohen, 1997). In particular, Blackness, transness, and engagement in sex work are all made queer in relation to dominant cultural norms embedded in white supremacy, cisnormativity, and sex negativity. The vast majority of what we know about the valuation and devaluation of femininity relies on a tacit assumption of cisness and a presumed coherence between gender identity and gender performance. The operation of femmephobia—the repudiation of femininity and its social consequences—effects people of all genders, but to different degrees and consequences depending on who is its target. In this dissertation, I am interested in mapping on to each other both conceptualizations of “queer”—that is, as a gender and/or sexual identity and as a relation to power to analyze femmephobia across domains. For example, looking at the “feminine failures” (Hoskin, 2017; 2021) of those who do—or don’t do—femininity in ways that violate our cultural expectations can help tease out the value (or penalty) of its performance. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: Is the experience of femininity dependent its wearer? Who “wears” femininity, and how? How do race, gender, and sex assigned at birth affect how it is valued, used, and assessed? Using ethnographic and interview data, this dissertation will consider three case studies in queer femininity across embodiments and social contexts. Specifically, the data includes 16 in-depth interviews with trans masculine and non- binary sex workers who embody femininity for work, 72 in-depth interviews with women who primarily date women and lesbians of all genders, and twelve months of virtual and in-person ethnographic observations across a variety of queer parties, bars, and events.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/49004 |
| Date | 07 June 2024 |
| Creators | Chudyk, Elliot |
| Contributors | Connell, Cati |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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