Queerness?
My understanding of the term “queer� is when a person identifies their sexual orientation or gender identity in any way that does not follow heterosexual/heteronormative society, but this definition differs for everyone. Although Verhoeven states that “being gay is not an issue…never linked that feeling of evil with peference of sexuality� I believe that there are evident undertones from the heterosexual capitalist patriarchy that gives the film’s “queerness� a very negative connotation. Stone’s character was uncomfortably open in discussing her heterosexual sex life (with the first murder victim) and how she enjoyed sex just for the pleasure of it, though her female relationships in the film show a different side of her. When Roxy dies, she is visibly upset at having lost a love, when in comparison she showed absolutely no feeling when she was informed by Douglass that “the guy she was fucking� was dead. Stone’s strong protagonist female character was shown with this weakness, and Douglass worked quickly to conquer her and her “queerness.�
Celestino Deleyto states in “The Margins of Pleasure: Female Monstrosity andMale Paranoia in Basic Instinct� that “lesbianism is not so much a social reality presented by the film as one more feature of the male perception of the dangerous modern woman.� Therefore, the males feel expendable in the face of lesbianism. The final scene in the film shows Douglass’s victory over lesbianism. He and Stone can now “Fuck like minks, raise rugrats and live happily ever after.� The patriarchical dream! (268)