Queering Heteronormativity at Home in London Brent S. Pilkey The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2013 copyright Brent Pilkey, please do not share 1 Signed Declaration I, Brent Pilkey, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signed: copyright Brent Pilkey, please do not share 2 Abstract This thesis offers a London-based contemporary study of sexuality at home. I draw from architectural history, feminist and queer theory as well as geographies of sexualities to interrogate the stability of domesticity. Highlighting everyday homemaking practices of more than 40 non-heterosexual households in London, I seek to complicate one overarching regime of power that dominates our cultural value system: heteronormativity – the idea that normative heterosexuality is the default sexuality to which everyone must conform or declare themselves against. The project is a response to three decades of academic research that has looked at the spatialised ways in which sexual identity unfolds in, for the most part, peripheral zones in the ‘Western’ metropolis, spaces beyond the domestic realm. This thesis takes a different architectural approach; one where through interviewing 47 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Londoners, as well as eleven domestic tradespeople that work in these homes, agency is given to small- scale domestic interventions and everyday actions. The concept of ‘queering’ is important to the framework, which, in the context of the thesis, is understood as an on-going process that LGBTQ people are engaged in through homemaking and daily living. Although some participants may not see this as a political act, I argue otherwise and suggest queering at home is a form of political activism. Through mundane domestic actions the overarching structure of heteronormativity might be challenged. I contend that queering the home unfolds in various, complex and conflicting ways. The thesis seeks to provoke both queer theory and politics, by opening up existing approaches and remits to allow room for a domestic method. In addition, the thesis seeks to challenge assumptions within architecture but also in the wider sense. I aim to break down stereotypes surrounding non-heterosexual homemaking practices that architectural studies and media representations problematically reproduce. copyright Brent Pilkey, please do not share 3 Table of Contents Signed Declaration .............................................................................................. 2 Abstract ................................................................................................................ 3 Table of Contents ................................................................................................ 4 List of Figures ...................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 10 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 12 Prelude .................................................................................................................. 13 Heteronormativity, the first key concept ............................................................... 14 Queering, the second key concept ......................................................................... 23 A domestic approach to queer activism ................................................................ 34 Introducing the subsequent chapters ..................................................................... 49 Chapter 1 Methodological Considerations ......................................................................... 52 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 53 The primary research methodology ...................................................................... 54 The secondary research methodologies ................................................................ 63 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 66 Chapter 2 The Literature Review: Negotiating Queer Domesticity ................................. 68 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 69 Deconstructing hegemony ..................................................................................... 70 “The trouble with normal[ising]” queer space ...................................................... 86 A gay domestic aesthetic ....................................................................................... 104 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 122 Chapter 3 Youth Identity and Home ................................................................................... 123 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 124 Embodying LGBTQ youth identity: coming out, migration and nostalgia .......... 125 LGBTQ youth queering heteronormativity: temporality and renting in London . 140 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 158 Chapter 4 Older LGBTQ Londoners at Home .................................................................. 159 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 160 Materiality and experiences of home .................................................................... 161 Looking beyond materiality .................................................................................. 187 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 201 Chapter 5 The Gay Plumber: Domestic Tradespeople Queering Home .......................... 202 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 203 A queer domestic trade network ........................................................................... 204 Looking at domestic space through rainbow-tinted glasses .................................. 221 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 232 copyright Brent Pilkey, please do not share 4 Table of Contents Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 234 Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 254 Primary literature (referenced in the text) ............................................................. 255 Films, websites and other sources ......................................................................... 280 Secondary literature (consulted, but not referenced in the text) ........................... 283 Formal research interviews with participants ....................................................... 294 Formal research interviews with domestic tradespeople ...................................... 297 Appendices ........................................................................................................... 298 Appendix A – Ethics Approval Correspondence .................................................. 299 Appendix B – Queer Domesticity Interview Questions ........................................ 300 Appendix C – Recruitment Poster ........................................................................ 305 Appendix D – Home study: Qualitative Research Data Showing Respondents’ Demographic, Identity Characteristics and Housing Arrangements ..................... 306 Appendix E – LGBTQ Domestic Work Interview Questions .............................. 309 Appendix F – Tradesperson Study: Qualitative Research Data Showing Respondents’ Demographic and Identity Characteristics ..................................... 311 Appendix G – Domesticity Participant Writing Diary .......................................... 312 Appendix H – Interview Consent Form ................................................................ 314 copyright Brent Pilkey, please do not share 5 List of Figures Frontispiece – A Victorian-terraced street in London where LGBTQ identity on the surface may be unreadable at first glance. Author’s own photograph. Figure 0.1 – Arrangement of a ground floor in a three-bedroomed house, alternative 3. Anon. (1944). Design of Dwellings: Report of the Design of Buildings Sub- Committee and of a Study Group of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning on Site Planning and Layout in Relation to Housing. London: His Majesty’s Stationary Office: pp. 38. Also reproduced in Harper, Phineas [online] (2011). Queer Theory & Architecture; Constructivists and Deconstructing Binary Thinking. 4 July. Available at: <http://www.phinharper.com/queer-theory-constructivists-and- deconstructing-binary-thinking/#comments>. Accessed 1 July 2012. Figure 0.2 – Advertisement on the London Underground. Spring