NEO-NORMATIVITY, THE SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN MARDI GRAS, AND LATRINALIA: THE DEMONSTRATION OF A CONCEPT ON NON-HETEROSEXUAL PERFORMATIVITIES A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy EDGAR YUE LAP LIU School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty of Science University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia September 2008 Declaration I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person, nor material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. 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Abstract This thesis uses the theory of abjection to understand differentiations in non- heterosexual identity performances in two distinct spaces – the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) parade and its associated press coverage, and latrinalia (graffiti found inside public toilets). At the same time, this thesis also presents evidence for a new concept of neo-normativity, where the stereotypical is normalised, both internally and externally, and actively reproduced. Neo-normativity, in turn, succeeds in explaining the many abjected relationships that between non-heterosexual communities and the stereotypical and quintessentialised performances. At the 2005 SGLMG parade such quintessentialised (or neo-normalised) performances were treated with both contempt – for being stereotypical and narrowly representative of the very diversity of non-heterosexual communities – as well as a tool for attracting commercial sponsorships which have growingly become an integral part to the continued survival of the annual parade. On a different level, another expression of abject was also revealed when these neo-normalised performances are persistently criticised by academics, news reporting and official photography for being stereotypical and non-representative which in itself are both a recognition as well as an ejection of the non-normative aspects of non-heterosexualities. Such an expression of abject was also evident in latrinalia found in several public toilet facilities throughout Greater Sydney where the interplay of desire and ejection were played out in a more covert manner, all the while highlighting the marginality of non-heterosexualities in these presumably heteronormative spaces. This application of abject theory emphasises neo- normative performances as permanently peripheral, a marginality of which makes these performances (and identities) intrinsically Queer. Table of contents List of tables iii List of figures v Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Topic selection and development 1 1.2 Aims and objectives 5 1.3 Research approach and thesis outline 6 Chapter 2: Understanding identity construction and politics 10 2.1 The early generalisation of non-heterosexualities in western societies 11 2.2 Beyond dualism – essentialism versus constructivism versus de- categorisation 15 2.3 Performances and their maintenance – Judith Butler 20 2.4 The politics of naming – GLBT versus Queer versus non-heterosexual 24 2.5 Abjection 31 2.6 Non-heterosexual stereotypings and neo-normativity 35 2.7 Conclusion 43 Chapter 3: Sexualities and their spatial divisions 46 3.1 Gendered/sexualised spaces 47 3.1.1 Hetero-essentialism and non-heterosexual acquisition 49 3.1.2 Gay male spaces and patriarchal privileges 53 3.1.3 The invisibles – spatiality of lesbians 59 3.1.4 Can we speak of bisexual, transgender, and/or transsexual spaces? 66 3.2 Urban versus suburban verus rural 67 3.3 Public versus semi-public versus private 72 3.4 Conclusion 77 Chapter 4: Methodologies 79 4.1 Location, location, location: three distinctly unique field sites 80 4.1.1 The 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) parade 80 4.1.2 Public parklands 83 4.1.3 University libraries 86 4.2 Analysing non-heterosexual identities: to graffiti or not graffiti 89 4.2.1 Previous researches on graffiti/latrinalia 89 4.2.2 Recognising non-heterosexual latrinalia 93 4.2.3 Analysing latrinalia 95 4.3 Field work and data collection 97 i 4.3.1 Visual materials as field data: collecting photography 97 4.3.2 Studying what you see: collecting through participation observation 100 4.4 Generating usable data from collected field materials: coding worksheets and SPSS 102 4.5 Wading through the data ‘jungle’ in search of meaning: analytical methodologies 110 4.5.1 Statistical analysis 111 4.5.2 Content analysis 112 4.5.3 Narrative analysis 113 4.5.4 Discourse analysis 114 4.5.5 Visual analytical methodologies 115 4.6 Conclusion 117 Chapter 5: The neo-normalising of non-heterosexual identity performances at the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 119 5.1 Commercialisation and stereotypical performances at the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade 122 5.2 The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, commercialisation and politics 135 5.3 Political activism at the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade 143 5.4 Underlying politics of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 157 5.5 A straight-forward relationship between commercialisation and de- politicisation? A case for abjection 161 5.6 Conclusion 166 Chapter 6: The mediated gazes of the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade 169 6.1 Neo-normalising through highlighting of the stereotypical 173 6.2 Depiction of place, affiliation and sponsorship 187 6.3 De-politicising the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade 194 6.4 Public space as asexual (or is it heteronormative) space 201 6.5 Neo-normalising through spectator depiction 206 6.6 Conclusion 212 Chapter 7: Public toilets are the new talkback radio: Covert performances of non-heterosexual identities in public spaces 216 7.1 Covert non-heterosexual performances in public spaces: Latrinalia unsettling heteronorms 217 7.2 Find me somebody to love: Sexualising non-heterosexual presence(s) 228 ii 7.3 Neo-normalisation through objectification 236 7.4 Graffiting as highly gendered activity: The absence of lesbian latrinalia 244 7.5 Restoring unsettled heteronorms 250 7.6 Conclusion 263 Chapter 8: Discussion and conclusion 264 8.1 Thesis summary 265 8.2 Deciphering neo-normativity 271 8.3 Where to from here? 277 8.4 Postscript 280 Bibliography 284 List of tables Table 4.1: University campuses with library facilities in the Greater Sydney region, 2004 88 Table 4.2: Images of the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade from external sources 100 Table 4.3: Terms appearing in latrinalia categorised for content analyses 108 Table 5.1: Commercial sponsors of the 2005 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade 128 Table 5.2: Relationships between financial sponsorship and neo-normativity, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 5th March 2005 132 Table 5.3: Pearson’s correlation tests between commercial sponsorship and parade group performances 133 Table 5.4: Evidence on the positive relationship between GLBT organisational sponsorship and neo-normativity 134 Table 5.5: Inverse relationship between financial sponsorship and the level of political militancy at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 5th March 2005 137 Table 5.6: Significantly negative relationship between commercial sponsorship and the level of political display, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 5th March 2005 138 Table 5.7: Positive relationship between sponsorship from GLBT organisations and the level of political display, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 5th March 2005 138 iii Table 5.8: Relationship between display of overt political statement and status of sponsorship, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade, 5th March,