Discomforting Power: Bodies in Public By © 2017 Ashley Mog M.A., University of Kansas, 2015 M.Sc., London School of Economics and Political Science, 2010 B.A., University of Washington, 2008 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Sherrie Tucker Hannah Britton Giselle Anatol Ben Chappell Alison Kafer Date Defended: 10 April 2017 The dissertation committee for Ashley Mog certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Discomforting Power: Bodies in Public Chair: Sherrie Tucker Date Approved: 4 May 2017 ii Abstract In this work, I draw from oral history interviews with queer and trans disability justice activists in Seattle, WA. I posit a theory of comfort that interrogates how “being comfortable” in certain spaces gets allocated on the basis of social privilege. I argue that comfort is only bestowed on and felt by some bodies, often at the expense of others. Who gets to be comfortable? And how is the feeling of comfort or the feeling of discomfort differently experienced based upon one’s social status and embodied identity? When does comfort get noticed and when does it go unnoticed? When does comfort become coded? I posit that terms like “safety,” “privacy,” and “cleanliness” become code words for comfort in some contexts, especially concerning public bathrooms. I move from broad accounts of discourses around public bathrooms to particular fears, events, and lenses. My interlocutors discuss their experiences of avoiding drinking water, facing possible violence, peeing on themselves and taking extra clothes everywhere as a result of lack of accessible bathrooms, facing illness from chemicals in the bathrooms, and staying out of public because of the problems with public bathrooms. I interrogate the implications of the construction of comfort for activism, organizing, and identity, arguing that comfort becomes an oppressive and defining force that is used as a weapon against marginalized people. iii Acknowledgments I have so many people to thank for their support, generosity, and labor that got me to this point. Firstly, Sherrie Tucker, my advisor, mentor, and friend – thank you for believing in me when I did not and for your pep talks with awesome running metaphors. You pushed me theoretically and my work is so much stronger for it. Taking that oral history class with you and Tami challenged me in important ways that gave me the confidence to go out there and talk to people about their stories! Additionally, your support has helped me get through some difficult times in graduate school and I cannot share my appreciation enough. Hannah Britton, thank you for seeing something in me in Feminist Theory class, for telling me when I needed to dive deeper into my intellectual lines of thinking, and for pushing me to dream big. Giselle Anatol, it was so wonderful to work with you in the Hall Center Faculty Colloquium, I have learned so much from you about shaping a story and exploring the power of words. Working with you on our projects in the colloquium was so valuable for shaping my intellectual commitments. Ben Chappell, I really appreciate how you lead me to critical geography and the generosity with which you offered me suggestions for my work. Alison Kafer, thank you for being my Disability Studies mentor and for sharing your thoughts, insights, and critiques with me. You really formed how I see myself contributing to crip theory and DS. Amanda Swarr, thank you for encouraging me to apply to grad school in the first place and for your continued mentorship. Dave Tell, thank you for leading me down the comfort line of thinking and for teaching me everything I know about Foucault. To Tami Albin, I literally would not have gotten through graduate school without you. Thank you for all of the hours you spent helping me conceptualize what I am doing in academia and why it is important. Thank you for pushing me to think about my work both in theory and iv practice, helping me figure out how and what to research, and for your generous friendship and support. I want to express my gratitude to WGSS for three years of funding. Thank you to Jan Emerson, who keeps the department together and patiently helped me with administration obstacles along the way. To Alesha Doan, who was the chair for much of my time in the department, thank you for believing in me, supporting me throughout my graduate career, and for working tirelessly to find us all more funding support. To the American Association of University Women, thank you for the dissertation completion fellowship that helped me get this done! I was lucky to be able to finish my oral histories with the help of the AAUW, Re:Gender’s Mariam K. Chamberlain award, and the Jim Martin Travel Award from the Hall Center for the Humanities at KU. Through the Hall Center for the Humanities’ Fall Faculty Colloquium on Decolonizing Knowledge in 2014 I was able to sort out my theoretical commitments, thank you all of the wonderful and smart faculty that were involved. Thank you also to Glenn Adams and Byron Caminero-Santangelo for organizing the colloquium and for inviting me to be a part of it. Thank you to the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University for hosting me as a visiting scholar for a year! To my grad school colleagues and friends – Corinne, thank you for being the best cohort mate I could have wished for. Thank you for reading grant applications, for being a teaching sounding board, and for 715 happy hours. Liam, thank you for everything, for the kikis, the nights drinking whiskey and talking about work, for tattoo friendship, for perfecting the art of happy hour, and for helping LFK be delightfully queer. Liz, my favorite Leo, thank you for feeding me, for proofreading and commenting on my work, and for being a steadfast, fierce, and v supportive friend. Andrew Gilbert, I thank you for the generative chats we’ve had together about theory, astrology, yoga, and video games. I appreciate your Aries friendship and understanding and miss our yoga mornings. Team Hustle – thank you for the life giving exchanges about life, love, and academic issues. Cat, it has been so fun visiting you all the places you have lived and had fancy jobs. You are so funny and fun, thanks for all of your encouragement along the way. To Trevor, thank you for the PLL chats, drag race gossip, and life giving chats about theory and pop culture. Steph and Eric, the Krehbiel-C’wiens family, thank you for feeding me, for your love and support, and for hours of fun watching dancing videos, foraging, and sharing Buffy feelings. Oniel, I miss singing Macy Gray songs with you and dreaming of different futures, thank you for your friendship. I miss TTAG! Caleb, thank you for all the chats about how messed up the world is and for your friendship and solidarity. You all made Lawrence a loving and fun place to live. To Sveta, it was wonderful living with you that year in Houston, thank you for your poetic turns of phrase, fun cooking collaborations, and always being down to watch a dancing movie. To my disability studies people – Mike Gill, Eungung Kim, Alison Kafer, Katerina Kolarova, Aly Patsavas, Ally Day, Angela Carter, Krystal Cleary, Hailee Yoshizaki Gibbons – thank you for welcoming me in, showing me what it means to be in community, making amazing scholarship that greatly influences me, and for being brilliant colleagues that I look forward to talking to at every conference! To my wonderful Seattle friends, you helped me feel anchored through some of the hardest times in my graduate program. To Emerson, my dear friend of so many years, thank you for your constant love, support, and fierce friendship. To Meghan, thank you for sharing reiki, friendship, and other healing tools with me in my last year. To Sue, Mel, Erika, thank you for vi hanging out with me through good and bad, for providing fun sporting items to compete over, and for that delicious chili cookoff. Sarah, thank you for your hardcore friendship love and for always making me laugh. Patrick and Randy, thank you for the drag queen distractions and for pushing me to go to graduation. Patrick, thank you for visiting me all over the place and for watching Gilmore Girls with me for well over a decade. To Kelsey, thank you for being a great sounding board, a card shark, and someone I will always want to go to Wales with. To my acupuncturist, Julia, for helping me get through the last seven months. You centered and grounded me in a way I was not expecting but certainly needed. To Samar, thank you for your friendship and for teaching me reiki as a tool for healing and grounding. To Ellie, thank you for being my partner in life. I wouldn’t be here without you, your support means everything to me. Thank you for access intimacy and for helping me off a ledge when I hit a hard point in work. Thank you proofreading in all those final moments, for always being ready to eat celebratory pizza with me, and for game nights with sparkling wine. I am constantly in awe of your intellect, your kindness, and wit. Thank you for being by my side. vii Table of Contents Introduction Comfort: A Powerful Social Construction ...................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Hygiene and the State: Legislating Bodies in Public ...................................................................