Theory, politics and community: Ethical dilemmas in Sydney and Melbourne queer activist collectives

Abstract

U.S.-based queer theory began with an explicit ethical agenda tied inseparably to real-world politics and activism. Key scholars Eve Sedgwick, Judith Butler, Michel Foucault and Gayle Rubin proposed that the political potentiality of queer lay in the ‘way of life’ and affective and relational virtualities it could bring about, and not as a progressivist movement defined by its radicalism in opposition to movements ‘past’ (especially feminism and gay and lesbian politics). In this thesis I argue that the translation of this ethical agenda has been problematic within theoretically-informed queer activist collectives in Sydney and Melbourne. These collectives are often plagued by intra-group conflict and feelings of ostracisation and exclusion. For example, this is exemplified in the activist practice of ‘calling out’ which shuts down rather than opens up the possibility of ethical movement towards other bodies, and productive encounters with difference. This then produces alienation amongst some members on account of not sharing the ‘dominant’ queer position on a number of issues covered in this thesis: from gay marriage debates to contemporary manifestations of the ‘feminist sex wars’. The thesis traces the historical contexts and precedents for these debates, notably U.S.-based queer theory, and the particularly conservative political context out of which it arose and that gave rise to its often polemical mode of address. I argue for a more ‘ethical’ ways of being in collectivity with other bodies that encourage productive connection rather than diminution of those bodies involved. In this I draw on case studies such as the RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009-) and Wicked Women communities as examples of difficult but productive encounters with antagonism that suggest new, productive paths for an ethics of localised queer activism.