1 Queer Feminine Disidentificatory Orientations: Occupying Liminal Spaces of Queer Fem(me)inine (Un)Belonging Alexandra Athelstan-Price Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy September 2014 2 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement © 2014 The University of Leeds and Alexandra Athelstan-Price. The right of Alexandra Athelstan-Price to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. 3 'If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.' - Audre Lorde 4 Table of Contents Acknowledgements Abstract Chapter 1: Introduction i) Introduction ii) Theoretical Framework: Disidentificatory Orientations iii) Literature Review: Femme and Queer Femininities iv) Why Queer Femininities Matter! v) Conclusion Chapter 2: Methodology: Towards a Collaborative Femme Ethnography i) Introduction ii) Summary of Methods iii) Queer Fem(me)inist Methodologies & Ethnography iv) Reflexivity v) Recruiting Participants vi) Questionnaire vii) Sampling viii) Visual Methods ix) Qualitative Interviews x) Discourse Analysis xi) Ethics xii) Conclusion Chapter 3: Theorising Queer Femininities: Falling Under and Out of the Sign of Femme i) Introduction ii) History of Femme and Queer Femininities iii) Defining Queer Fem(me)ininities iv) Ambiguous and Resisting Definition v) Queer Fem(me)inine Sexualities: Beyond the Butch and Femme Binary vi) Queer Femininity as a Gender Identity vii) Queer Femininity as a Subversive Style of Embodied Subjectivity viii) Butlerian Performative Failures ix) “Doing” or “Being” Femme: Queer Femininity as Identity or Performance x) Politicised Feminist Femininity xi) Distinctions Between Queer Femme-ininities and Femininity xii) Queer Femininities as a Collective and Personal Identity That is (Seemingly) Open to Endless Possibilities 5 xiii) Queer Femininities and Femme as an Umbrella Term xiv) Limitations: Falling Out of the Sign of Femme xv) Conclusion Chapter 4: Rethinking Queer Feminine Privilege, Positionalities and Power Through Disidentificatory Orientations i) Introduction ii) Why Positionalities Matter iii) Geographical Location iv) Disabilities v) Queer(ing) Heterosexual Femininities vi) Conclusion Chapter 5: The Art of Queer Feminine “Failure” i) Introduction ii) Theorising the Queer Art of Failure iii) Size iv) Class v) Failing to Fail and Failing to Follow: Inheriting and Disidentifying with Queer Feminine Lines of Whiteness vi) Conclusion Chapter 6: The Politics of Queer Feminine Anger i) Introduction ii) Theorising Anger iii) Converting the Harm of Misrecognitions Through Disidentificatory Anger into Moments of Queer Feminine Affirmation iv) The Politics of Queer Feminine Disidentificatory Anger at Racism v) The Politics of Queer Feminine Disidentificatory Anger at Ableism vi) Conclusion Chapter 7: Conclusion Bibliography Appendices Appendix 1: Introducing Queer Feminine Participants Appendix 2: Flyer: Call for Participants Appendix 3: Information Sheet 6 Appendix 4: Questionnaire Appendix 5: Consent Form Appendix 6: Guidelines for Making Visual Materials Appendix 7: Interview Schedule Appendix 8: Malik and Whitall’s (2002) ‘Fat is a Femme-inine Issue’ List of Figures and Images Figure 3.1 Felix Figure 3.2 Ali’s Collage Figure 3.3 Sarah’s Collage Figure 3.4 Hedwig’s Collage: Feminist Sign Figure 3.5 Liz’s Collage Figure 4.1 Sue Figure 4.2 Ali Figure 4.3 Hedwig’s Collage: Horse Figure 4.4 Sarah Figure 4.5 Bobette 1 Figure 4.6 Bobette 2 Figure 4.7 Bobette 3 Figure 4.8 Peggy’s Torn Up Rule Book Figure 4.9 Peggy’s Shoe Figure 5.1 Malik and Whitall’s (2002) ‘Fat is a Femme-inine Issue’ pp.141-144. Figure 5.2 Ibid. Figure 5.3 Ibid. Figure 5.4 Jess’s Collage Figure 5.5 Hem’s Collage Figure 6.1 Brazen Femme Cover. Figure 7.1 Tina in Dahl and Volcano (2008) Femmes of Power, p.134-135. Figure A.1 Ali Figure A.2 Bobette Figure A.3 Donna Figure A.4 Felix Figure A.5 Heather Figure A.6 Hedwig Figure A.7 Hem Figure A.8 Jess Figure A.9 Liz Figure A.10 Lisa Figure A.11 Sarah Figure A.12 Sue Figure A.13 Nichola Figure A.14 Peggy Figure A.15 Vikki (© AbsoluteQueer Photography) 7 Acknowledgements In October 2004 I walked into my very first ever lecture. Immediately I was hooked and within the first two weeks of my BA in English with Gender at Swansea University I knew that I wanted to pursue a career as a writer and as an academic for the rest of my life. A decade since that life changing turning point, I am finally submitting my PhD thesis for examination and, despite occasional lovers tiffs, I am still deeply passionate about and committed to writing and learning about Gender Studies. All in all, it’s been quite a journey. A journey that has certainly not been without its challenges. It has been a journey that has been as personal as it has been political. A journey of the intellect, the heart and the spirit. A journey taken with others and one that has challenged me to grow in so many ways, for which I will be eternally grateful. Finally, it has, of course, been a journey that has produced the bound pages of writing that you are holding in your hands and which I hope will make a contribution to both the scholarly field in which I work and the various communities in which I am situated. As the saying goes, we are but mere dwarves standing on the shoulders of giants and our own scholarly and political contributions are indebted to the dedicated work of our predecessors and the conditions of working that have paved the way for the emergence of any piece of writing, which will in turn hopefully play its part in contributing to further learning, writing and political activism. With this in mind, I would first and foremost like to thank my supervisors Dr. Shirley Anne Tate and Professor Ian Law, from the Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, School of Sociology and Social Policy, Leeds University. Shirley, any words will fail to express exactly how much I and my work am indebted to the supportive supervisions that you have provided over the last four years. Thank you for your professionalism, holistic supportive approach and healthy boundaries, clarity, wisdom and inspiration. Thank you for encouraging me to perform at my best and for always believing in me, even when I did not believe in myself and, thereby, teaching me to believe in myself. One thing I have never told you is that reading your beautifully articulate book - Black Beauty: Aesthetics, Stylization, Politics - was a major influence and turning point for my own thinking and for shaping this project, alongside all the insightful and inspiring conversations we had in supervisions. In every way imaginable, thank you, for being the best teacher and academic role model I have ever had! Ian, thank you, for your friendly, encouraging, supportive and pragmatic supervision and for - just occasionally - laughing at my silly insecurities at exactly the right moments, thereby teaching me to see the lighter side of things! My sincere heartfelt gratitude also goes out to Jeanette Hannah for nurturing my personal growth and resilience through years of dedicated support. I know you hide that Leeds University Partnership Award that you won in 2014, but you really do deserve it! I have met so many students at Leeds University who have benefited significantly from your support, indeed, whose personal and academic survival depended on it and who think you are the very best thing on campus. I am very proud to walk forwards into the world positively as a living, breathing, testimony of your award winning service! For their friendship, solidarity, loyalty, laughter, fun, daytrips, discussions, brunches and awesome company along the way - and for indulging my incessant cooking and baking obsessions with their equally healthy appetites - there are so many friends and colleagues to thank, I can only mention a few by name, but you know who you are! I 8 especially want to thank Keerti Raghunandan, Ragini Mohite, Rosemary Deller, Mercedes Pöll, Kristin Aune, Jasna Balorda, Tereli Askwith, Frances Kirk, Louise Rigby, Francesca Lewis and my friends from Café Queero, Leeds. For always encouraging me to pursue my dreams, for their ongoing support and for always knowing I had the strength to do this, I would like to thank my parents and my lovely grandparents. I would also like to thank Yi Xing Hwa for that moment in 2009 where they introduced me to Ulrika Dahl and Del La Grace Volcano’s (2008) Femmes of Power, which inspired me to identify as femme and to write this thesis. Thank you to all the diverse, inspiring, fabulous, fierce, femmes, I’ve had the privilege of working with or whose stories have influenced my writing in some way. I especially want to thank my queer feminine participants - Ali, Bobette, Donna, Felix, Heather, Hedwig, Hem, Jess, Liz, Lisa, Sarah, Sue, Nichola, Peggy and Vikki - for enthusiastically sharing their insights and without whom this project would not exist! I would also like to thank colleagues and friends from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, the Centre for Racism and Ethnicity Studies, the School of Sociology and Social Policy at Leeds University, the White Spaces Network and my international academic and activist networks - especially those arising from Central European University, Budapest, ATGENDER and Utrecht University, Netherlands - for countless insightful conversations and discussions throughout the years.