Reading Report | Queer - A Graphic History

Queer - A Graphic History discusses everything from gender roles to sexuality and our understanding of everything around our sexual identity. However, what first makes this piece of writing different from others I have read is the use of imagery and illustrations, they enable the message to brought across much clearer and gives makes the statements more personal as you are able to relate them to people. 

It begins by discussing the history of the word Queer and what its meanings were and are to this day. I found quite a few interesting things out from this piece as it relates a lot to my own focus for this project. This history of the word was one example, it was originally refereed to as an insult, meaning something 'strange and illegitimate' (this was in the 16th century). In addition, another interesting fact I discovered was the earliest recorded use of 'queer' as a form of homophobic abuse was in 1894. It became derogatory term for same-sex sex, or for people with the same sex attractions. However it soon became the face of many activist protests which purposes were to reclaim the word 'queer' as the very word that was used against them. This was not just in the queer community, many protests were going on in the 90's that were put in place to reclaim many different words used against a number of different communities.

What I like most about this text is it's adventurous look into identity, it discusses how we should not let ourselves be defined by the identity we think is given to us but instead 'challenge the notion of fixed identities based on gender and sexuality'( a book review by Jane Haile: Queer: A Graphic History, Nyjournalofbooks.com). The book also illustrates this very well as they give detailed illustrations of a variety of characters and time periods, enabling our imagination and understanding of what the text is discussing to be that much clearer. This section of the text really relates to my own work and the focus I have for my project which is why I took so much interest in it. The discussion of how we should challenge stereotypes relates to how I want my animation to turn out to be a group of images that represent a free choice and understanding towards how a person can choose to act and become. They are not restrained by categorized traits or gender.

"The essense of queer theory is to break down binary thinking - such as man/woman, heterosexual/homosexual, right/wrong" - a book review by Jane Haile: Queer: A Graphic History

There is another interesting section of the book that discusses the idea of queer theory and what that means. They identify that queer theory can be resisting the categorization of people, challenging the idea of essential identities, questioning binaries like gay/straight, male/female etc. This statement relates a lot to what I am trying to but across in my own work. This idea of challenging all these different ideas, the book continues to discuss the interesting concept of how in order to fight these things and allow your views to be heard 'camping them up' is the best options. As this takes people back to the original meaning of the word 'queer', its fighting the stereotypes and categorizations with the very thing that was used against the queer community in the first place.

Overall this text really gives my own project perspective and inspiration as to how far I can take my focus of identity and more importantly, masculinity and femininity. The queer community have been an important part of how society views people with different sexuality and gender preferences, personality traits and overall ways they want to live their lives. Their work with protests and building on making sure their points are heard have made a massive impact on our world today and continue to break boundaries and stereotypes, especially surrounding the LGBTQ+ community.