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from
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attention
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heteronormativity
the
thinking
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37
and
queer
project
acceptance
nation
is
In
is
the
column
suicides
of
Gets
in
world
day
used
of
response
Puar’s
in
that
of United
youth
and
a
queer
the
Better”
the
nation
the
Better
FOOTNOTES
line
necropolitics.
life
to
and
and
Queer
this
Better
and
to
as
that subject,
and
normative
explores
the
youth
death
create Western
organized
homosexual
queerness
Savage
both discourse. Terrorist
understanding-
themselves.
with
suicide
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for
youth
of
normative.
death
to
outburst
state:
of
States
the
campaign
LGBT
specific
have
a
an
Time
Project
queer
the of
hornonormative
the
suicides,
Campaign
mode
the
It is
identity
through
suicides
Love,
the
ideas
world,
of
the
have
Assemblages
desperate
with
and
LGBT the
Gets
biopolitical
subject,
and
societal
in
of
allies
of
the
youth,
The
and
nation.
Volume
of
subject.
heteronormative
thinking
itself,
The
prospect
in
and
This
and
response
death.
America
become the
jumped
of
nation.
Better
Place,
struck
this
It
highlights
suicides
gay-bashing,
in
‘othemess’is
community,
questioning
actions
a
nation
the
Gets
the
producing
means
sense
is
regulation
normative
situation,
a
queerness
Opposing
that
Through
climate
4
equated
aims
Project
by
of
at
Better
and a
(2011)
to
for
was
was
had
tool
the
life,
the
the
to an FOOTNOTES the It Gets Better Project. The It Gets Better Project showcases Dan Savage and his partner, both white, gay, male subjects who associate with the homonormative discourse, reaching out to queer youth in order to explain that their lives could get better, if only they chose to live them.
Dan Savage and his partner exemplify the existence of homonormativity, defined as the heteronormative lifestyle lived out by subjects who identify as homosexual. This lifestyle includes marriage, proper work, consumption, adopting children, becoming an upstanding citizen that can uphold the standards set upon heteronormative subjects. The allowance of gay subjects into this heternormative discourse of life implies that the current climate in which we live is a climate of supposed sexual acceptance, of sexual exceptionalism the It Gets Better campaign, Dan Savage and his partner.In create propaganda for a homonationalist way of life, a homosexual2 way of life that follows the heteronormative discourse, which benefits the nation state. This is a time and space of queer temporality, as “homonationalism is [...j a temporal and spatial illusion, a facile construction that is easily revoked, dooming the exceptional queers” This is to say that the temporal existence of a queer nationalism,3 of a homonormative and homonationalist discourse, is always. on the brink of its own demise. Within its own existence, sexual exceptionalism, which allows propaganda like that of It Gets Better to exist, is always a moment away from its own death. Queerness is always in tandem with death, whether through the queer body, the queer youth of the nation or the ideology of queerness itself.
Judith Halberstam’s In a Queer Time and Place focuses the first two chapters of the book on the death of Brandon Teena, a white female to male transgender subject living in small-town Nebraska in the United States who was brutally murdered once being ‘discovered’ to be living as a transgendered man. Halberstam argues that Teena was living “literally and figuratively out of time and place” and argument is that there4exists a time and place through which Halberstam claiming that is not ‘out’ but rather ‘in’ for queer subjects., The notion of US sexual exceptionalism paints the Western World, specifically the United States,5 as a place that welcomes queer subjects and queer bodies
2 Jasbir Puar, Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times (United States: Duke University Press, 2007), 67. Puar, Terrorist Assemblages, 78.
Judith Halberstam, In a Queer Time & Place (United States: New York University Press, 2005), 16. A concept borrowed from Puar, Terrorist Assemblages, which can be described as the notion of the States being a place that accepts all different types of people (including homosexuals) and the idea that because of this ‘acceptance’ the United States is on the forefront of modernity, progress and sexual libertaion.
38
6
their
climate
nation
example,
space
homosexual
death.
also
normative
Because
show
normativity,
applaud
association
accepted boundaries
in
Due
adopted
aside
partner
queer
positive
disease
Halberstam,
Halberstam, rents
are
By
accumulation:
familial
normative
Halberstam
the
through
narratives,
incapable
way
of
claims, identification
subjects
concurrent
the
friend
death
‘in’.
line
face
doing
subjects
age.
life
small-town
not to
little
boys,
in
from
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of like Contradictorily,
time.
of
in
with
(sex
the
which
are
of
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out
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barebackers)
into
Clementi
the
the
sexuality
son (heterosexuals)
Queer in
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Dan
modes
or
subjects
so,
of
who
time
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the
sex
took
of colour
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pursuit
fact
that
two
subjects
of
workers).
with
as
no
the
face
subject associated
offers
as
did
victims
situating
line the
fact,
they
of
time
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normative
here
Savage’s
do
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workers” 6 .
fact
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concern
well
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because
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time
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are
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occurs
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of
lived
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upon
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fact
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and
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as
whose
beat
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create
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to
itself
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cross
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also
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US
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life,
reasoning
only
subject
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Outside
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story
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allowed
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4.
not
life,
was
10.
with
longevity” 7 .
life,
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opted
discourse.
homosexuality
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longevity
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were in
happen
Gets
often
represent
the
death;
subject edges
consider
much Gets
the
of of
became
a
after
they subjects
the
of
only
39
and death.
association
and
his
narrative
heterosexual
and
of
lives
subjects
not
Teena
Better
Teena
“to
Dan
with
for
perpetuation
to
live[d]
Better
homonationalist/heteronormative
the of
that
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girlfriend
pathologize about
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discourses
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kill
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who live
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Savage,
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Teena
freedom
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The
SEXUALITY
with
association
face
represent
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of
not
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years
life
life.
and
most of
diseased
can
clearly has
same-sex
lifestyles
not
and
labour
his
of
was
soon
of
queering only
Tyler
modes
with
operated
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of
who
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align
death:
construction
Dan
of
of
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of
life,
been
was,
associate
of
partner,
thus
contribute
an
life:
desirable
life,
created
his
reproductive
associated
subjects,
be boys
differently-abled
the
happiness
logic
and
age,
are
ever-changing
Savage
do
furthering
Clementi, normative attitude
subject
of
himself
murdering
with
as
render
diminished
‘queering’
that
which
relationship.
but
barebackers,
of
ridden
perpetuation
they
OF
not
production.
temporally
living
Halberstam
outside
who
an
of
time
and
for
with
rather
is
death
DEATH
and
due
age
of
future,
live
to
capital
his
queer,
that
(HIV
were
were
is
live
with
with
their
with
time
and
that
and
the
for
life;
and
his
to
at life
life
an
the
the
the
in
is his
of
in
in is FOOTNOTES which one is not yet able to involve themselves thoroughly with the life of the nation through acts of marriage and reproduction. In this sense, Clementi and the other subjects of the It Gets Better Project queered time and space more so than Dan Savage and his partner currently do. The critical differences of these two lives is as follows: Dan Savage has aligned himself with the life of the nation through homonationalism and following the heteronormative discourse, perhaps in order to survive. Tyler Clementi aligned himself with death through his inability to follow a heteronormative discourse, not only by way of homonationalism but also by way of his queerness, which queered the space he was in to a point of uncomfortability, leading to his suicide. In short, Clementi is a queer subject, whereas Dan Savage is a homonationalist, albeit homonormative subject.
Halberstam introduces the idea of “geographies of resistance” in relation to the queer body. The queer body and the queer subject as a site of resistance becomes problematic for heteronormative discourses that homonormative subjects tend to follow in order to be associated with the life of the nation, rather than death. Queer bodies and queer subjects as tools for resistance become associated with “improper, norinational queerness” Puar states, “we have a split between proper, national (white)8 homosexuality [...] and improper (colored) nonnational queerness [...] therefore proliferating the sexualities of which Foucault. speaks (the good patriot, the bad terrorist, the suicide bomber, the married gay boy, the monster-terrorist-fag, the effeminate turbaned man...)”. This split is reflected in the It Gets Better Project; Dan Savage and his partner are the proper, white, nationalist homosexual subjects, whereas Tyler Clementi and the other queer youth who committed suicide are representative of improper nonnational queerness. This is due to the fact that Dan Savage and his partner have chosen to associate themselves with life, through living, as well as through the It Gets Better campaign, while Tyler Clementi has become associated with death through his suicide and through the campaign’s exploitation of his suicide. Dan Savage is representative of life, whereas Tyler Clementi is only representative of death because it is all he is known for.
Non-normativity is associated with people of colour; people of any race other than white. In this sense, the It Gets Better campaign is not only a straightening device for proper homosexuality, but also a whitening device, as queer youth of colour are completely absent from the campaign. Nor is the subject of race or class at all touched upon. Instead, what It Gets Better enlists is a reproduction of whiteness in life; to deviate from whiteness is to assume otherness, such as blackness, which is to associate with death; just as to deviate from heterosexuality is to assume homosexuality, which is to associate with
8 Puar, Terrorist Assemblages, 78.
40
power,
death
necropolitics
and
Culture
10
of public
spectrum,
exceptionalism utilizing
use
queerness necropolitics
This
practice
discursive
repressive,
heterosexuality
homosexuality
the
were
that
officers 9 .
In
own
therefore
propaganda
Puar, with
lower
the Homophobia
continually nation,
put
has
white,
the
differences
family
Savage’s “strolling the
improper
death.
Iraqi
the
concept
Terrorist
of
ideology
of
project
Dan
mainstream
occur
narrative
being
that
Terrorist
nature
right
practice
15,]
life
a
tortured
on
S/M
and
queer
homonormative,
rather taking
prisoners
sexual
of
taken Savage
to
allows
(2003):
through
the
is
a
Images
with for
Dan
relates
nonnational
narrative
heterosexual in the
normalizing
power
practices
utilized
decide different
fail
be
fail
Assemblages,
subject.
of
Assemblages,
necropolitics’°
that
of
racialized
through
Abu
queers
and
from
of
than
of a
by
barbarism,
streets
in
‘othered’
practices queerness
Savage’s
11-40.
to
dictates
deviance
and
to
through trip
in
him
who
his
any
pushes
light of
in
the
racism
creates
become
necropolitics
Achille
means
Ghraib,
discuss
of
a
death,
the
to
The
these
class.
gets position
on
of life.
highlights
torture.
and
improper,
racial
to
of
the
life
heterosexuality Paris, queerness
of
79.
body
the
colour,
tool.
concept Iraqi
middle
Mbembe’s
subjects.
associate
to
heteronorniative
seen
his
Paris
reflect
lifestyle
associated the
Dan
in
a
and
of
the are
animalistic
associated
anti-hegemonic
live events
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the
Iraq.
The
tortured
differences
void
whiteness,
relation
homosexual
death
France
in
of
Heterosexuality
prisoners
of
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necropolitical
as
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In
possible
is
and
Savage
nonnational
to
differently-abled
It
one
privilege.
the
for
discusses the
In
deviant
that
warfare
41
“Necropolitics,” between
who
in
Dan
circulated
of
these
upper
himself itself
Gets
Abu
chatting”.
prisoner. terms
there
queer
body
with another
that
in
regulation
to
project’s
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gets
characteristics
power,
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THE
discusses
which
of
maleness
idealizes
class
standardizes
acceptance
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Ghraib,
is reflects
and
class
are
instances
subjects,
to
homosexuality
in
by
the
life,
The
actions
a
of
the
the
with
die.
position
discursive
queemesses,
has
practices
in
not
on
perverse
SEXUALITY
sexuality,
and
Abu using
The
Iraqi
he
This
becomes
and
subject
In trans.
two
with
events
lifestyle
their
inability
Project
the
the
discourse
of
wherein life
available
relation
Iraqi
details
spent
upon
‘regular’
and
queers,
race.
power
notion
the
by
prisoners’ Ghraib,
Libby
specific
ends
homosexuality
death. into
of
sexuality internet,
consistent
power
of
and
and
class,
who
of
the
by
other
white,
of
prisoners
time
to
the
Dan
this
race
that
to once
homosexuality.
sexual
a
about
the
Meintjes,
deviance.
sexual
to
of
that
by
the
the
this
sexual
of and
dictate
with
basis
to
discursive
sexuality
function
forward
has
OF
members
Dan
all
with
the part
US
where
ideology
discuss
paralleling and
Savage
association
essay,
American everybody.
upholding
American
again
life
will
sexuality
the
queers
parallels
his
ability
access
of
the
DEATH
torture,
torture
for
sexual
sexual
of
Public
torture
Savage class
ability
of
his
of
which
by
white
The
as
war
is
Dan
the
the and
by
is
son
the
of
the
its
of
of
to
a
to
of
in
a a FOOTNOTES
interplaying with S/M, versus the American, white heteronormative or homonormative subject’s sexuality. This creates the ideology that the racialized other must have a regularized and therefore acceptable sexual personality in order to escape death. Based on the regularization of sexuality in Dan Savage’s propaganda The It Gets Better Project, the prisoners of the Iraqi prison, as racialized subjects, deserved to be subjected to having the decision of the continuance of the their lives or their eminent deaths rest in the hands of the white American soldiers, at whose hands they suffered. These prisoners were used as a tool of regulation of the othered body, outside and inside sexualities.
The torture at Abu Ghraib regulates the racial other and the queer subject simultaneously, ousting both as relative to the death of one nation (Iraq) to perpetuate the life of another nation (America). As this war has meant the death of many Iraqi civilians and Iraqi and American solidiers. The placement of not just a sexual torture, but rather a homosexual torture reinstates the interplay of shame of homosexuality and its dependence upon the presence of death in order to exist. Just as in the case of Tyler Clementi’s suicide, the homosexual tortures in Abu Ghraib only exist in a space that has a dependence on the death of something - if even just the death of the possibility of acceptance of queerness (not just a queerness that follows heteronormative scripts and becomes homonormative) as a societal norm. The fact that heterosexuality was not used as a torture device on the bodies of Abu Ghraib prisoners shows that there is nothing deviant or shame-worthy in heterosexual sex practices. What the It Gets Better Project aims to do is justify and honour the deaths of a number of white, male, American homosexual subjects in order to produce a proper homosexuality that is in line with the aims of the nation state. This project fails to access an audience of any ‘true’ queerness, whose subjects deviate from the norm of homonormativity and whiteness. What Dan Savage’s campaign in fact does is highlight the existence of death within the life of the homosexual as well as the regulatory power of heteronormativity and its relationship with a ‘proper’ homosexuality. Through this process of ‘othering’, Dan Savages campaign does not only virtually murder the possibility of life for nonnormative sexual subjects, but also nonnormative subjects whose ‘queerness’ and ‘othemess’ rests in their race, class and/or ability- even the life of a heterosexual subject who queers societal norms, such as a queer subject or homosexual that does not fight for marriage rights or aim to mimick nuclear, heterosexual family ideals, is left out of the equation of this image of life, only to find themselves aligned with death. Through Dan Savage’s campaign there is a clear idolization of successful homosexuality as well as a red herring for failed homosexuality. Through this propaganda for the biopolitical functions of a ‘proper’ sexuality, there is an evident and oppressive presence of the death of the homosexual and queer subject, always present in a life that lives within a society that adheres to dominant heterosexual discursive power.
42
Puar,
Mbembe,
Halberstam,
Works
Jasbir,
United
Culture.
University
Cited
Achille,
Terrorist
Judith,
States:
15,1
“Necropolitics,”
In
Press,
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(2003):
a
Duke
Queer
2005.
University
11-40.
Time
43
trans.
Homonationalism
&
THE
Place.
Press,
Libby
SEXUALITY
United
2007.
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States:
in
Queer
Public
OF
New
DEATH
Times. York