Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T17:34:57.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Queer Acts and the Politics of “Direct Address”: Rethinking Law, Culture, and Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Lisa C. Bower
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A question intimated by some contemporary scholarship (but not yet fully explored) is how cultural practices that law both enables and limits might be related to new styles of politics and redefinitions of community. This query is first explored in the context of Queer Nation's response to the decision in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), which reduced homosexual identity to a single behavior. Queers' subsequent embrace of a cultural politics of “direct address” suggests that the transformation of identities and communities must be built from social and cultural practices that seek to redefine citizens' affiliations. While “turning away from the law” is one strategy for redefining political practice, the case of Karen Ulane—a transsexual who was fired after having sex reassignment surgery—suggests another: The articulation of a queer notion of “nonidentity” within the legal field may afford possibilities for destabilizing dominant legal classifications such as “sex” and “gender.”

Type
Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 28 , Issue 5: Symposium: Community and Identity in Sociolegal Studies , 1994 , pp. 1009 - 1133
Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

Research support for this article was provided by a postdoctoral fellowship (1993-94) funded by the Rockefeller Foundation at the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota and a Women's Studies Summer Research Award (1993) from Arizona State University. A preliminary version was presented at the Western Political Science Annual Meeting in San Francisco (March 1992). I thank my discussant at that meeting, Vivian Herman, whose initial comments and continued insights on this topic have been invaluable. Parts of the text were presented to the Theorizing Female Diversity Seminar at the University of Minnesota. Comments from the audience helped to sharpen my thinking on several aspects of the argument. Peter Siegelman alerted me to the existence of extensive archive materials on the Ulane case-the inclusion of these materials has allowed me to expand my preliminary arguments. Recent drafts have benefitted from conversations with Elizabeth Chambliss, Rosemary Coombe, Michael McGourthy, Elizabeth Mertz, Mandy Roll-Kuhne, and the students in Jacqueline Zita's Queer Theory seminar. The members of my writing group at the University of Minnesota, Lisa Disch and Jennifer Pierce, read several drafts and provided the kind of commentary that comes only from close and careful reading. Leigh Ann Wheeler provided invaluable research assistance.

References

REFERENCES

Abel, Richard L. (1973) “Law Books and Books about Law,” 26 Stanford Law Rev. 175.Google Scholar
Berlant, Lauren (1991) “National Brands/National Body: Imitation of Life” in Spillers, H.J., ed., Comparative American Identities: Race, Sex, and Nationality in the Modern Text. New York: Roudedge.Google Scholar
Berlant, Lauren, & Freeman, Elizabeth (1992) “Queer Nationality,” 19 Boundary 2: An International J. of Literature & Culture 149.Google Scholar
Bérubé, Allan, & Escoffier, Jeffrey (1991) “Queer/Nation,” 11 Outlook: National Lesbian & Gay Q. 12.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre (1987) “The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field,” 38 Hastings Law Rev. 805.Google Scholar
Bumiller, Kristin (1987) “Victims in the Shadow of the Law: A Critique of the Model of Legal Protection,” 12 Signs 421.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith (1990) Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Roudedge.Google Scholar
Case, Sue-Ellen (1989) “Toward a Butch-Femme Aesthetic,” in Hart, L., ed., Making a Spectacle: Feminist Essays on Contemporary Women's Theatre. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan.Google Scholar
Chee, Alexander (1991) “A Queer Nationalism,” 11 Outlook: National Lesbian & Gay Q. 15.Google Scholar
Coombe, Rosemary J. (1992) “Publicity Rights and Political Aspiration: Mass Culture, Gender Identity, and Democracy,” 26 New England Law Rev. 1221.Google Scholar
Coombe, Rosemary J., (1993) “Tactics of Appropriation and the Politics of Recognition in Late Modern Democracies,” 21 Political Theory 411.Google Scholar
Crimp, Douglas (1992) “Right On, Girlfriend!” 33 Social Text 2.Google Scholar
Currah, Paisley (forthcoming) “Searching for Immutability: Homosexuality, Race, and Rights Discourse,” in Wilson, A., ed., A Simple Matter of Justice. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
Davis, Natalie Zeman (1975) “Women on Top,” in Davis, N. Z., ed., Society and Culture in Early Modern France. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derrida, Jacques (1982) “Difference,” in J. Derrida, Margins of Philosophy, trans. Bass, A.. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Doty, Alexander (1993) Making Things Perfectly Queer: Interpreting Mass Culture. Minnesota: Univ. of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Duggan, Lisa (1992) “Making It Perfectly Queer,” Socialist Rev. p. 11.Google Scholar
Duggan, Lisa, (1994) “Queering the State,” 39 Social Text 1.Google Scholar
Ewick, Patricia, & Silbey, Susan (1992) “Conformity, Contestation and Resistance: An Account of Legal Consciousness,” 26 New England Law Rev. 731.Google Scholar
Epstein, Julia (1990) “Either/Or—Neither/Both: Sexual Ambiguity and the Ideology of Gender,” 7 Genders 99.Google Scholar
Epstein, Julia, & Straub, Kristina (1991) “Introduction: The Guarded Body,” in Epstein, J. & Straub, K., eds., Body Guards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity. New York: Roudedge.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel (1979) Discipline and Punish, trans. Sheridan, A.. New York: Vintage.Google Scholar
Gallop, Jane (1988) Thinking Through the Body. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garber, Marjorie (1991) Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York: Roudedge.Google Scholar
Goldberg, Jonathan (1992) Sodometries: Renaissance Texts, Modern Sexualities. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Halley, Janet E. (1993) “The Construction of Heterosexuality,” in Warner 1993.Google Scholar
Halley, Janet E., (1991) “Misreading Sodomy: A Critique of the Classification of ‘Homosexuals’ in Federal Equal Protection Law” in Epstein & Straub 1991.Google Scholar
Halley, Janet E. (1989) “The Politics of the Closet: Towards Equal Protection for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Identity,” 36 UCLA Law R. 915.Google Scholar
Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (1990) “Standards of Care: Hormonal and Surgical Sex Reassignment of Gender Dysphoric Persons.” Rev. Draft, Jan. 1990. Sonoma, CA: The Institute.Google Scholar
Kaplan, Esther (1990) “A Queer Manifesto,” Village Voice (August 14) 36.Google Scholar
Lacan, Jacques (1977) Écrits: A Selection, trans. Sheridan, A.. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Laqueur, Thoman (1990) Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Mather, Lynn, & Yngvesson, Barbara (1980–81) “Language, Audience and the Transformation of Disputes,” 15 Law & Society Rev. 775.Google Scholar
McCann, Michael (1994) Bights at Work: Pay Equity Reform and the Politics of Legal Mobilization. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McClure, Kirstie (1993) “On the Subject of Rights: Pluralism, Plurality and Political Identity,” in Mouffe, C., ed., Dimensions of Radical Democracy: Pluralism, Citizenship, Community. New York: Verso.Google Scholar
Merry, Sally Engle (1990) Getting fustice and Getting Even: Legal Consciousness among Working-Class Americans. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Miami Theory Collective, eds. (1991) Community at Loose Ends. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Mouffe, Chantal (1991) “Democratic Citizenship and Political Community,” in Miami Theory Collective 1991.Google Scholar
O'Donovan, Katherine (1985) “Transsexual Troubles: The Discrepancy between Legal and Social Categories,” in Edwards, S., ed., Gender, Sex, and the Law. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Riviere, Joan (1986) “Womanliness as Masquerade,” in Burgin, V. et al., eds., Formations of Fantasy. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Russo, Mary (1986) “Female Grotesques: Carnival and Theory,” in de-Lauretis, T., ed., Feminist Studies/Critical Studies. Bloomington: Indiana Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Rutherford, Jonathan (1990) “A Place Called Home: Identity and the Cultural Politics of Difference,” in Rutherford, J., ed., Identity: Community, Culture, Difference. London: Lawrence & Wishart.Google Scholar
Sarat, Austin (1990) “‘… The Law Is All Over’: Power, Resistance and the Legal Consciousness of the Welfare Poor,” 2 Yale J. of Law & Humanities 343.Google Scholar
Scheingold, Stuart (1989) “Constitutional Rights and Social Change: Civil Rights in Perspective,” in McCann, M. W. & Houseman, G. L., eds., Judging the Constitution. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Silbey, Susan S., & Sarat, Austin (1987) “Critical Traditions in Law and Society Research,” 21 Law & Society Rev. 165.Google Scholar
Solomon, Alisa (1992) “The Queer Issue: Breaking Out,” Village Voice (30 June) 27.Google Scholar
Smith, Neil (1992) “Contours of a Spatialized Politics: Homeless Vehicles and the Production of Geographical Scale,” 33 Social Text 54.Google Scholar
Smith, Paul (1991) “Laclau and Mouffe's Secret Agent,” in Miami Theory Collective 1991.Google Scholar
Terdiman, Richard (1987) Translator's Introduction, “The Force of Law: Toward a Sociology of the Juridical Field,” 38 Hastings Law Rev. 805.Google Scholar
Trebay, Guy (1990) “In Your Face! Village Voice, p. 34 (14 Aug.).Google Scholar
Voice, Village (1992) “The Queer Issue: Identity, Politics and the New Gag Order,” Village Voice (30 June).Google Scholar
Walz, Mary Beth (1979) “Transsexuals and the Law,” 5 J. of Contemporary Law 181.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael (1993) “Introduction,” in Warner, M., ed., Fear of Queer Planet: Queer Politics and Social Theory. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Warner, Michael, (1993a) “The Mass Public and the Mass Subject,” in Robbins, B., ed., The Phantom Public Sphere. Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
White, Lucie (1990) “Subordination, Rhetorical Survival Skills and Sunday Shoes: Notes on the Hearing of Mrs. G,” in Fineman, M. A. & Thomadsen, N., eds., At the Boundaries of the Law: Feminism and Legal Theory. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Williams, Patricia J. (1987) “Alchemical Notes: Reconstructing Ideals from Deconstructed Rights,” 22 Harvard Civil Liberties–Civil Rights Law Rev. 410.Google Scholar

Cases

Baehr v. Lewin, 74 Haw. 530, 852 P.2d 44 (1993).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986).Google Scholar
City of Chicago v. White. 75 111. 2d 525, 389 NE.2d 522 (1978).Google Scholar
City of Columbus v. Zanders, 25 Ohio misc. 144, 266 N.E.2d 602 (1970).Google Scholar
DeSantis v. Pacific Tele. & Tele. Co., 608 F.2d 327 (9th Cir. 1979).Google Scholar
Holloway v. Arthur Anderson, 566 F.2d 659 (9th Cir. 1977).Google Scholar
Sommers v. Budget Marketing, 667 F.2d 748 (8th Cir. 1982).Google Scholar
Ulane v. Eastern Airlines, 581 F. Supp. 821, 35 F.E.P. 1332 (N.D. 111. 1984) (“Ulane I”).Google Scholar
Ulane v. Eastern Airlines, 742 F.2d 1081, 35 F.E.P. 1348 (7th Cir. 1984) (“Ulane II”).Google Scholar

Statute

Civil Rights Act of 1964, title VII, 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000e-2(a) (1988).Google Scholar

Archival Material

All archival materials from National Archives & Record Administration, 7358 Pulaski Avenue, Chicago, IL..Google Scholar