MaSh UP

For my mash-up I wanted to look back at the use of queer and action of queering race. Queering to me is the challenge of hegemonic standards. This challenge of placed "norms" could be shown through dress, words, sexuality, hygiene, gender, choice of music, and so many, many more. As mentioned in Kathy Cohen's article and brought to further attention by jaropenerkate, this category of queer/queering can even be somewhat limiting. Cohen mentions the actions people take to lead queer lives by searching,

"...for a new political direction and agenda, one that does not focus on integration into dominant structures but instead seeks to transform the basic fabric and hierarchies that allow systems of oppression to persist and operate efficiently" (Cohen 90).

Cohen continues by explaining that even this action of queering or identifying as queer is limiting and leaves out many stories, feelings, ideas, opinions, etc. Jaropenerkate furthers the limits within queerness by explaining what she appreciatively took from Cohen's article. Jaropenerkate says,

"Mostly, I just appreciated a further fleshing out of the terms 'queer,' 'queer theory,' 'heterosexuality,' 'heteronormativity,' and 'gay politics.' Her discussion of the term 'queer' as a potentially radical political category is informed by her experience as a woman activist of color. She recognizes that the danger in assuming the identity queer too readily and too easily could very quickly result in the erasure of particular lived experiences and points of view that come from differences in race, class, gender, etc. 'Queer' as a category, then, has both the danger of becoming a monolithic, stable label, slapped on any non-heterosexual person and potential to be effectively political if questioned and talked about."

I think this pigeonholing that is happening even within the queer community is important to note. This all-encompassing, freeing term can have limitations at times.

Jaropenerkate also provided a great example of what isn't queer in her Queer This! example by using a Rolling Stone Cover with the cast of Glee on it. However, the whole cast isn't pictured and as jaropenerkate mentioned, "...only the lightest, straightest ones" are shown.