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I& #39;ve just seen the (long) thread about whether or not we should use & #39;queer& #39; to describe Shakespeare characters. I didn& #39;t want to add to it because it looks as if it& #39;s become a bit overwhelming, but I am going to pontificate because I can.
I think anyone can use whatever term they choose, and using & #39;queer& #39; can be a political act in itself, because you& #39;re using a term that will make some students suddenly feel they belong, and that& #39;s important.
But, teaching Shakespeare to students from countries where homosexuality is still either illegal or highly stigmatised, I noticed that often, such students don& #39;t struggle to identify same-sex innuendos or implications of what we might call & #39;queer& #39; desire.
But, often, they presumed Shakespeare included these innuendos specifically to make us dislike or judge the character. Comparisons could be made to the way Shylock& #39;s Jewishness is presented.
This is one of the things that makes me worry about how we sometimes use & #39;queer& #39;. (And I& #39;m thinking mostly about me as a teacher, not anyone else as a scholar).
It& #39;s easy to say & #39;this character is really queer& #39; and have students hear & #39;wow, this teacher is really excited by Shakespeare& #39;s acceptance of queerness/ she really loves how early modern people were fine with queerness& #39;.
But, I& #39;m often not convinced either of those things were the case.
I have a whole, more carefully thought-through bit about this at the front of my new book (she says, self-promotingly, and it& #39;s here: https://boydellandbrewer.com/lucy-m-allen-goss.html).">https://boydellandbrewer.com/lucy-m-al...
But the gist is that recognising Shakespeare writes & #39;queer& #39; characters needs to come alongside acknowledging that this isn& #39;t necessarily a form of affirmation of queerness. It might be, but it could also be pejorative.
I think this matters, because the fight isn& #39;t over. There is still a huge amount of nasty, insinuating queerphobia in fiction; there are plenty of writers who give us gay characters but do so in a way that& #39;s actually hurtful.
Anyway, just my thoughts on a slow Sunday morning. Excuse me if not useful, and ignore. :-)
