Meg-John Barker

knowledge as always partial and contextual.

The original meaning of “queer”, in 16th-century English-speaking countries, referred to something strange or illegitimate, as in “there’s nowt as queer as folk” or being “in queer street”, meaning someone having financial difficulties.
Using queer to mean odd, in the 19th century, social reformer and founder of the cooperative movement, Robert Owen, famously said to a colleague: “All the world is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little queer.”

in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. There’s also the American phrase “queer as a three dollar bill”, from a similar time, suggesting something odd and suspicious

The earliest recorded use of “queer” as a form of homophobic abuse is said to be an 1894 letter by John Sholto Douglas, the Marquess of Queensberry. He was the father of Alfred Douglas and famously accused Oscar Wilde of having an affair with his son.
“Queer” quickly became a derogatory term for same-sex sex, or for people with same-sex attractions, particularly “effeminate” or “camp” gay men.

In the 1980s, people in LGBT communities began to reclaim the word “queer” as either a neutral word to describe themselves, or as a positive form of self-identity. One early example was the activist group Queer Nation who circulated a “Queers Read This” flyer at the 1990 New York Pride march.

“Queer” is also often used as an umbrella term for anyone who is not heterosexual (attracted to the “opposite” sex) or cisgender (remaining in the gender that they were assigned at birth). It’s a snappier and more encompassing word than the ever-extending LGBTTQQIA, etc. alphabet soup.

The current Western understanding of gender is closely linked to 19th-century industrial capitalism, which required women to work unpaid in the home, caring for the workforce and producing its next generation. When women did work outside the home, it relied on

them being paid less than men. Work continued to be valued more highly when associated with men, particularly work associated with advanced technology, which was portrayed as too complicated for women.

THESE BECOME INTERNALIZED AND INSTITUTIONALIZED, AND WE MAY BE OPPRESSED ON SOME DIMENSIONS AND PRIVILEGED ON OTHERS.

THE VERY EXISTENCE OF GENDER-SEGREGATED PUBLIC TOILETS – WHEN TOILETS IN HOMES ARE NOT SEGREGATED – TELLS US ABOUT HETERONORMATIVE ASSUMPTIONS. THE PRESENCE OF “THE OPPOSITE SEX” IS SEEN AS DANGEROUS IN PUBLIC BUT NOT PRIVATE (WHERE MOST VOILENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACTUALLY HAPPENS).