how and why did Queer Theory become the defacto paradigm...

submitted by unexpectedly_local from self.GenderCritical

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[–]DistantGlimmer 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Speculating I'd think it has to do with the general individualism in neoliberalism and the discrediting of any collectivist ideologies and the idea, enthusiastically pushed by neoliberal elites, that we can't really change neoliberal society in any radical way ("the end of history" was an actual phrase which cropped up in certain academic circles in the early 90s) and then we have various economic changes that make people feel even more powerless Now we also have this pandemic that no one can do anything about - that just makes it worse. So people look at self-empowerment, I can see how QT seduces people even though it doesn't make sense. "You can be whatever you feel you are. The mind is what is important." "If you're a woman, you don't have to be oppressed. We can solve female oppression just by identifying as something else ." It's silly but like other cults I think they do have a message that if you take it at face value comforts people and gives them the illusion they have more control over their own lives. The same with all the sex-positive "sex work is work and empowering!" nonsense. It is framed as just people making choices and expressing their desires even though that is usually patently deceptive,

There's a whole fear I have about how this is actually about pushing transhumanism and the gender shit is just the first step in that. I really think transhumanism will be terrible for anyone in the world who isn't extremely wealthy but I imagine the same sort of rhetoric will be used to justify it and this is probably a test-run for what the public will swallow.

[–]unexpectedly_local[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the reply. Do you have more info on the "end of history" idea (an author or a body of text)? Is it something that came out of postmodernism? Underlying this current libfem movement, I've felt that those who would benefit most were those who had the privilege of "options". Like, in a feminist context it would be the middle upper/upper class women, or with LGBT it would bisexuals/pansexuals. I never understood why it was called "Queer" Theory if it fundamentally argued that sexuality is a choice to be deconstructed and examined.

I appreciate your thoughts on transhumanism, it's something that's cropped up on my radar as well. As a teen I was very into cyberpunk in an aesthetic and "rage against the machine" type of way, but now it just seems very sinister to me. There is a dark irony in the fact that the people who now heavily tread that transhumanism line are the type who would be the cyberpunk villains of yesteryear.

[–]DistantGlimmer 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man

I don't think Francis Fukuyama who coined this would be considered a post-modernist but many of the postmodernists believed similar things about how all ideologies were discredited (even though I imagine they would view Fukuyama's ideas as a grand narrative themselves). Yeah, I agree with you about this ideology really benefiting privileged people with options at the expense of others. It seems to be a lot of more working-class women who are rejecting trans ideology (not exclusively but largely from what I've seen) That is another reason I think it is associated with neoliberalism.

but now it just seems very sinister to me. There is a dark irony in the fact that the people who now heavily tread that transhumanism line are the type who would be the cyberpunk villains of yesteryear.

Yes. :)