Lesbian, Gay, And ***** Criticism

Front 1

homophobia (320)

Back 1

a fear and disgust of people who are gay that is built into white, American, patriarchal culture and systematically causes disadvantage to that group.

Front 2

internalized homophobia (320)

Back 2

when people who are gay have begun to believe they are inferior on a deeper psychological level because of their exposure to homophobic attitudes growing up. They may start to hate themselves.

Front 3

heterosexism (320)

Back 3

where heterosexuality is privileged and members of a society are told that they must be heterosexual by their families, churches, the media, and other institutions

Front 4

heterocentrism (320)

Back 4

the more subtle unconscious attitude marginalizing gays and lesbians that heterosexuality is central to the universe; it's normal. Gay and lesbian experience is made to be invisible.

Front 5

biological essentialism applied to sexuality (321)

Back 5

the idea that people are either born straight or gay and a specific proportion of the population is born gay.

Front 6

social construction of sexuality (321)

Back 6

sexuality is a learned social behavior and set of feelings that has differed over historical time periods--everyone has the potential to be gay. This is not to say gays and lesbians do not constitute an oppressed minority in American society.

Front 7

homoerotic (321)

Back 7

Sensual, erotic, (sometimes) sexual aspects of something (including a literary work) that suggest either attraction between two same-sex beings or objects or that could be sexually arousing for a same-sex reader

Front 8

homosocial (321)

Back 8

same-sex friends participating in sex-specific bonding activities

Front 9

lesbian criticism (322)

Back 9

addresses the psychological, social, economic, and political oppression resulting from patriarchy and heterosexual privilege. Asks "what is a lesbian" and "what is a lesbian text?" in a self-questioning manner. Very rich and complex, represents multiplicity of views within the field.

Front 10

lesbian continuum (325)

Back 10

includes emotional factors and shared experience with women as well as sexuality in the definition of lesbianism--the more contact or "closeness" a woman has with other women, the closer to "lesbian" verses "non-lesbian" (a womanless woman) she is

Front 11

separatists (325)

Back 11

Lesbians that prefer to remain apart and isolated from all men and heterosexual women. Part of this preference can be part of a political stance--Can those groups actually put the lesbian issues first?

Front 12

"What is a lesbian?"

Back 12

Does it have to do with virginity? What about the lesbian continuum?

Front 13

"What is a lesbian text?"

Back 13

Is the supposed coding purposeful on the part of the author? Can a text prove that the author was a lesbian? Does a straight text have a lesbian dimension?

Front 14

macho (329)

Back 14

a man in Mexican and South American cultures who takes on the part of penetrating during sex (with males or females) but are not penetrated themselves. They are not considered homosexual within their cultures.

Front 15

"the masturbator" (329)

Back 15

In the 19th century, an (especially young) person who touched themselves sexually was considered to have a severe psychological disorder for which they were treated.

Front 16

gay sensibility (330)

Back 16

being gay influences experience in that one must be aware that one is different, and must deal with oppression. examples of responses and consequences of this include drag, camp, and dealing with AIDS (where gays were mistreated)

Front 17

drag queens/kings (330)

Back 17

1) gay men who dress in drag (which tends to be theatrical cross-dressing) routinely or as a profession, either to express themselves or make a political statement.
2) lesbians who cross dress (though often cross-dressing isn't considered theatrical or unexpected for women). However, lesbians do in fact do drag too.

Front 18

camp (331)

Back 18

a flamboyant artifice or aesthetic used to mock traditional (in this case gendered) behaviors in a theatrical way

Front 19

***** (334)

Back 19

reclaims the word from heterosexuals using it to label and oppress the LGBTQ community. Instead, they label themselves. The word now refers to the shared experience of nonstraight people to facilitate unity. Also refers to sexuality in terms of possibilities and potential instead of dividing sexuality into the categories of homosexual and heterosexual.

Front 20

homosocial bonding (339)

Back 20

spotlights emotional closeness between same-sex characters, could be homoerotic.

Front 21

gay/lesbian "signs" and coding (340)

Back 21

literature can use codes recognized by heterosexist culture or gay/lesbian/***** culture consciously or unconsciously to subtly evoke LGBTQ experience

Front 22

same-sex "doubles" (340)

Back 22

same-sex characters who have something in common (appearance, behavior, or experience) that may be codes for gay and/or lesbian experience

Front 23

transgressive sexuality (340)

Back 23

a text with this quality challenges traditional notions of sexuality by focusing on sexualities and sexual behaviors that break the rules

Front 24

***** criticism (336)

Back 24

literary criticism that specifically interprets and analyzes a text from a perspective that is nonstraight. It often breaks down categories of sexuality and is extremely complex.