tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4604023787594058757.post3649408773819889892..comments2023-10-23T13:09:56.166-04:00Comments on ASC Queer Theory: Summary of Exile and Pride-- "Stone in my Pockets, Stones in my Heart" by Eli ClareProfBaileyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11318245231937813930noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4604023787594058757.post-20235693162766904642010-12-06T09:54:19.240-05:002010-12-06T09:54:19.240-05:00I'd like to respond to the following paragraph...I'd like to respond to the following paragraphs of arrow5733's post: <br /><br />"After some thought and consideration, I realized Eli does not confirm that the sexual abuse and neglect he endured was a cause of his homosexuality or transgender identity. Eli states matter-of-factly that he does not know and will never be sure if the abuse or neglect he was exposed to in life caused him to be transgender or homosexual.<br /><br />"This brings us back full circle to the nature-vs-nurture argument. In this article, Eli Clare challenges the idea that the cause of homosexuality is biological--that it is naturally innate within an individual. Clare dismantles the notion that homosexuality or other ‘queer’ sexualities are acceptable as long as they stem from a biological source."<br /><br />I'd like to reinforce this last sentence that “Clare dismantles the notions that … 'queer' sexualities are acceptable as long as they stem from a biological source.” My reading of this article is that Eli Clare is actually critiquing the idea of a nature versus nurture argument, and he indicates instead that nature and nurture both play a crucial part and are inseparable in shaping his identity. Not only does Clare "not confirm that the sexual abuse and neglect he endured was a cause of his homosexuality or transgender identity," but he doesn't deny it either. This is an extremely bold move on the part of someone who is marginalized for being trans, disabled, working class, and abused, because by even mentioning that his queer identities could have something to do with his history of abuse, he is placing himself smack in the middle of dangerous territory, and owning the consequences. Clare places himself face to face with dangerous discourses which marginalize queer people by stating that his nurture did probably have something to do with his nature; but he adds a crucial critique: yea? So what?<br /><br />Clare says: “But tell me, if I start here by placing the issues of violence and neglect on the table alongside my queerness, what will happen next? Will my words be used against me, twisted to bolster the belief that sexual abuse causes homosexuality, contorted to provide evidence that transgressive gender identity is linked directly to neglect? Most feminist and queer activists reject these linkages and for good reason. Conservatives often use them to discredit lesbian, gay, bi, and trans identities and to argue for our conversion rather than our liberation. But this strategy of denial, rejecting any possibility of connection between abuse and gender identity, abuse and sexuality, slams a door on the messy reality of how our bodies are stolen” (Clare, p. 125). In this portion of his text, he articulates the dangerous position he places himself in by claiming that his history of abuse and his sexual and gender identity are probably related: many people will likely try to discredit him and the validity of his sexuality and gender identity if he suggests that they might be related to his history of abuse. He truly flirts with the possibility of “conservatives... arguing for our conversion rather than our liberation.” But without accepting this danger, Clare could not make the powerful argument that he does that to deny how gender identity, sexuality and abuse are related is to “slam the door on the messy reality of how our bodies are stolen” – and to prevent ones self from fully healing. In acknowledging the way that "Gender reaches into disability; disability wraps around class; class strains against abuse; abuse snarls into sexuality; sexuality folds on top of race ... everything finally piling into a single human body" (p. 123), Clare allows himself to fully heal, to own his own body and his own history, to see his identity as unified and whole. By doing this, Clare diminishes the importance place on outside affirmation of the validity of one's queer identity by affirming his own identity, in all its complication and messiness.susiescorcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02277043214335755259noreply@blogger.com