Queer Externalities: Hazardous Encounters in American Culture

SUNY Series in Queer Politics and Cultures

by W.C. Harris

Provocative take on the negative effects of increasing queer visibility and assimilation on the lives of queer people and politics in the U.S.

In television shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy , and movies like Brokeback Mountain , as well as gay young adult novels and other media coverage of queer people—including the outing of several prominent Republicans—queer lives are becoming more visible in the media and in U.S. culture more generally. How does the increasing visibility of queer subjects within mainstream culture affect possibilities for radical and transformative queer activism? Provocative and challenging, W. C. Harris argues that rather than simply being a cause for celebration, this “mainstreaming” of queer lives may have as many negative effects as positive ones for contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Harris builds on the work of queer and political theorists such as Eve Sedgwick, David Halperin, Michael Warner, and Wendy Brown to examine the side effects that can be generated when queers assimilate, and argues for a reinvigorated queer essentialism in order to claim a separate and visible political and activist space within U.S. culture.

“ Queer Externalities is everything a queer intervention should gutsy, irreverent, and thoroughly enjoyable! W. C. Harris never fails to surprise, provoke, and entertain.” — Donald E. Hall, author of Reading Hermeneutic Theory and the Future of Queer Studies

“Harris’s thesis is significant and important, covering ground often ignored in other volumes of queer studies. Readers also interested in U.S. history in general, as well as pop culture and queer lit, would find this volume invaluable. Dealing with current, relevant topics, this engaging book ranges gracefully from Anita Bryant to instant messaging.” — Jim Elledge, author of A History of My Tattoo

Genres: Queer

261 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

William Harris is Associate Professor of English at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and also author of E Pluribus Unum: Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Constitutional Paradox."

Reviews

[Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though sometimes frustratingly contradictory in his own arguments, Harris presents a fascinating reading of queer representation in popular culture, calling on the community to remain vigilant during the debate re: assimilation vs. maintenance of difference.