Allen, Louisa. 2010. “Queer(y)ing the Straight Researcher: The Relationship(?)
between Researcher Identity and Anti-Normative Knowledge.” Feminism &
Psychology 20 (2): 147–65.
Allen writes that she focuses on the epistemological, rather than the political or ethical implications of having straight researchers work on queer theory (page 148) however I would argue that as theory is in everything we do, and epistemological implications effect us personally, there is no way to disentangle the political/ethical from the epistemological implications.
She goes on to talk about the relationship between knowledge and identity being two talking points for epistemological knowledge production. I would argue that identifying as LGBTQ+ is unfortunately inherently political when you live in a homonormative society.
Allen says that Rodriquez and Pinar used the term "straight" in the 1960's to describe anyone who accepted without criticism the "official, cultural and political "curriculum"" p.150 I don't know how I feel about this definition of the term, because my parents would identify as straight, but I would say that without a doubt that they fully criticise the official, cultural and political curriculum, and do not ascribe to the dominant societal power structures. Heterosexual contributes to the hetereonormative power structure. Queer researchers also use the term straight.
"Critiquing this standpoint, interpretive social scientists have disputed the possibility that ‘truths’ about the world can be objectively accessed by researchers (Flick, 2006)." p.150
Researchers gender/class/ethnicity/ability all effect the way they collect the research. There is no such thing as complete objectivity. This is further exacerbated if there is a power relation between the researcher and the subject: man/woman, child/adult, white person/person of colour. p.150
If the researcher is an 'outsider' - aka not part of their group, they may share with you without fear of repercussions, or it getting back to other members.
If the researcher is an 'insider' - aka part of the group, they may share more with you and not censor, as they might do with an outsider. p.151
Historically, gay, lesbian and bisexual people carried out research on LGBTQ topics because their shared knowledge of politics and culture allowed them to gain deeper insights.
"This argument reveals an assumed relationship between ‘shared identity’ and the generation of ‘better’ knowledge." p.151
However, sharing a sexual orientation does not preclude gender/race/class/ethnicity and other oppressions. "A problem with asserting this causal relationship emerges when identity is understood as a constellation of multiple and unstable positions, as it is conceptualized within post-structuralism (Beasley, 2005)." p.152
STRAIGHT, IN A QUEER WORLD
'post-straight' is a way that some heterosexuals may identify when working in/with queer theory.
"Repudiating a heterosexual identity is claimed as a way of ‘not asserting heteronormativity’." p.152
The author identified as 'straight with a twist'. "This naming was certainly aimed at dismantling the normative status of heterosexuality and as a means of extricating myself from its institutional apparatus." p.154
"I propose that the production of (hetero)normative knowledge appears to be mediated by heteronormativity and that this is not bound to particular identity categories." p.156
STRAIGHTS AND THE PRODUCTION OF ANTI-NORMATIVE KNOWLEDGE?
"Identity categories can also be exclusionary, cementing and regulating normative modes of being. Diversity within identity categories makes it problematic to claim that those encompassed within them act, think or even look in certain ways as a consequence of such membership (Hall, 2003)." p.156
"Queer theories work to deconstruct identity categories in ways that disrupt gender and sexual binaries and the cultural intelligibility they imbue." p.156
Through Butler's theory that gender is in fact a performance, "When applied to heterosexuality, this identity, 'which passes itself off as natural and therefore in no need of explanation, is reframed by Butler as a discursive production, an effect of the sex/gender system which purports merely to describe it' (Jagose, 1996: 84)" p.157
"The inconsistency in heterosexuality’s rearticulation is a refusal to take this identity for granted, and to acknowledge it as normal. Despite the potential glitch in this ‘performance’ of heterosexual identity Schlichter (2004) reminds us that such efforts continue to reinscribe the centrality and normalcy of heterosexuality. How is it that a transgressive act does not result in the subversion of sexual identity norms it appears to promise?" p.157
"Rather than symbolizing an identifiable body of thought, heteronormativity informs a plethora of practices, institutions, conceptual understandings and social structures (Sullivan, 2003). It constitutes the ‘social air we breathe’." p.158
"Research documenting homophobic bullying of effeminate (but not necessarily gay-identified) boys reveals that heteronormative practices have negative repercussions beyond gay and lesbian subjects (Pascoe, 2007)." p.159
I would disagree with this being a means of heterosexual people identifying with 'queer-straight' terminology, because I think that yes, effeminate boys may be at risk of being bullied, but gay-identifying boys are much more likely to actually get bullied.
"Similarly, Butler (1990) differentiates between regulatory systems such as the ‘heterosexual matrix’ and heterosexuality as an identity. This theoretical distinction suggests the potential of heterosexual disassociation from heteronormativity, enabling the deconstruction of an individual’s implication in such practices." p.159
"If heteronormativity is not implied by heterosexuality, then its relationship with other identities may also be more ambiguous. Put another way, gay, lesbian and bisexual identities are potentially just as able to produce heteronormative knowledge." p.159
"The phenomenon of straights claiming a ‘queer’ identity elucidates some of the problems of viewing identity as dictating knowledge. This practice encompasses a ‘logic’ that queer identity produces anti-normative knowledge." p.160
"The aim of this article has not been to suggest that a researcher’s biography is inconsequential to the knowledge they produce. Instead, I have wanted to ‘play’ with the suggestion that who we are does not determine what knowledge we produce. The relationship between sexual identity and anti-normative knowledge appears more complex than a lineal certainty that heterosexuals cannot (despite an expressed desire by some of them) stop thinking straight. Rather than being linked to identity, the production of heteronormative knowledge may be better understood as a consequence of the ongoing power and pervasiveness of heteronormativity." p.161
Allen writes that she focuses on the epistemological, rather than the political or ethical implications of having straight researchers work on queer theory (page 148) however I would argue that as theory is in everything we do, and epistemological implications effect us personally, there is no way to disentangle the political/ethical from the epistemological implications.
She goes on to talk about the relationship between knowledge and identity being two talking points for epistemological knowledge production. I would argue that identifying as LGBTQ+ is unfortunately inherently political when you live in a homonormative society.
Allen says that Rodriquez and Pinar used the term "straight" in the 1960's to describe anyone who accepted without criticism the "official, cultural and political "curriculum"" p.150 I don't know how I feel about this definition of the term, because my parents would identify as straight, but I would say that without a doubt that they fully criticise the official, cultural and political curriculum, and do not ascribe to the dominant societal power structures. Heterosexual contributes to the hetereonormative power structure. Queer researchers also use the term straight.
THE POLITICS OF POSITION: THE LANDSCAPE OF IDENTITY POLITICS
"Identity’s importance in relation to the production of knowledge is an issue which emerged out of a critique of positivist methodologies characteristic of the natural sciences." p.150
"Identity’s importance in relation to the production of knowledge is an issue which emerged out of a critique of positivist methodologies characteristic of the natural sciences." p.150
"Critiquing this standpoint, interpretive social scientists have disputed the possibility that ‘truths’ about the world can be objectively accessed by researchers (Flick, 2006)." p.150
Researchers gender/class/ethnicity/ability all effect the way they collect the research. There is no such thing as complete objectivity. This is further exacerbated if there is a power relation between the researcher and the subject: man/woman, child/adult, white person/person of colour. p.150
If the researcher is an 'outsider' - aka not part of their group, they may share with you without fear of repercussions, or it getting back to other members.
If the researcher is an 'insider' - aka part of the group, they may share more with you and not censor, as they might do with an outsider. p.151
Historically, gay, lesbian and bisexual people carried out research on LGBTQ topics because their shared knowledge of politics and culture allowed them to gain deeper insights.
"This argument reveals an assumed relationship between ‘shared identity’ and the generation of ‘better’ knowledge." p.151
However, sharing a sexual orientation does not preclude gender/race/class/ethnicity and other oppressions. "A problem with asserting this causal relationship emerges when identity is understood as a constellation of multiple and unstable positions, as it is conceptualized within post-structuralism (Beasley, 2005)." p.152
STRAIGHT, IN A QUEER WORLD
'post-straight' is a way that some heterosexuals may identify when working in/with queer theory.
"Repudiating a heterosexual identity is claimed as a way of ‘not asserting heteronormativity’." p.152
The author identified as 'straight with a twist'. "This naming was certainly aimed at dismantling the normative status of heterosexuality and as a means of extricating myself from its institutional apparatus." p.154
"I propose that the production of (hetero)normative knowledge appears to be mediated by heteronormativity and that this is not bound to particular identity categories." p.156
STRAIGHTS AND THE PRODUCTION OF ANTI-NORMATIVE KNOWLEDGE?
"Identity categories can also be exclusionary, cementing and regulating normative modes of being. Diversity within identity categories makes it problematic to claim that those encompassed within them act, think or even look in certain ways as a consequence of such membership (Hall, 2003)." p.156
"Queer theories work to deconstruct identity categories in ways that disrupt gender and sexual binaries and the cultural intelligibility they imbue." p.156
Through Butler's theory that gender is in fact a performance, "When applied to heterosexuality, this identity, 'which passes itself off as natural and therefore in no need of explanation, is reframed by Butler as a discursive production, an effect of the sex/gender system which purports merely to describe it' (Jagose, 1996: 84)" p.157
"The inconsistency in heterosexuality’s rearticulation is a refusal to take this identity for granted, and to acknowledge it as normal. Despite the potential glitch in this ‘performance’ of heterosexual identity Schlichter (2004) reminds us that such efforts continue to reinscribe the centrality and normalcy of heterosexuality. How is it that a transgressive act does not result in the subversion of sexual identity norms it appears to promise?" p.157
HETEROSEXUALITY AND HETERONORMATIVITY: A NECESSARY RELATION?
"Rather than symbolizing an identifiable body of thought, heteronormativity informs a plethora of practices, institutions, conceptual understandings and social structures (Sullivan, 2003). It constitutes the ‘social air we breathe’." p.158
"Research documenting homophobic bullying of effeminate (but not necessarily gay-identified) boys reveals that heteronormative practices have negative repercussions beyond gay and lesbian subjects (Pascoe, 2007)." p.159
I would disagree with this being a means of heterosexual people identifying with 'queer-straight' terminology, because I think that yes, effeminate boys may be at risk of being bullied, but gay-identifying boys are much more likely to actually get bullied.
"Similarly, Butler (1990) differentiates between regulatory systems such as the ‘heterosexual matrix’ and heterosexuality as an identity. This theoretical distinction suggests the potential of heterosexual disassociation from heteronormativity, enabling the deconstruction of an individual’s implication in such practices." p.159
"If heteronormativity is not implied by heterosexuality, then its relationship with other identities may also be more ambiguous. Put another way, gay, lesbian and bisexual identities are potentially just as able to produce heteronormative knowledge." p.159
"The phenomenon of straights claiming a ‘queer’ identity elucidates some of the problems of viewing identity as dictating knowledge. This practice encompasses a ‘logic’ that queer identity produces anti-normative knowledge." p.160
"The aim of this article has not been to suggest that a researcher’s biography is inconsequential to the knowledge they produce. Instead, I have wanted to ‘play’ with the suggestion that who we are does not determine what knowledge we produce. The relationship between sexual identity and anti-normative knowledge appears more complex than a lineal certainty that heterosexuals cannot (despite an expressed desire by some of them) stop thinking straight. Rather than being linked to identity, the production of heteronormative knowledge may be better understood as a consequence of the ongoing power and pervasiveness of heteronormativity." p.161
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