So as apposed to the past response essays that have been only 500 words, this is my first 1500 word - academically positioned short essay - for University of Toronto’s - Contemporary Theory of Sexuality 2 - striving to visualize and materialize discussions around Queer Inhumanism; a very new field of study linking understandings of Queer Theory and Transhumanism.
Contextualizing Queer Inhumanism: Neither Discursive nor Corporeal. Transient Practices in Variance.
Making a distinction between the mind and the body seemingly scratches only the surface of philosophical practices. This short essay will cover both the corporeal and discursive as viewed though the lens of Patrick Johnson. In Samuel Delany’s “On the Unspeakable” (1999); Delany makes a distinction between the everyday and unspeakable. Indefinitely it might be accurate that within contemporary everyday practices of knowledge input ‘Googling’ (The process of using internet search engine; Google) has become a common everyday practice for not retrieving factual information, but a sociological consensus of specific or groups of information. Queer theory on the other hand has it’s own collective of ‘isms’. Google states ‘ism’ as a “distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement”. This sociological definition alone offers understanding of a twenty first century consensus on what constitutes an ‘ism’. What is possibly curious in ‘ism’ or ‘isms’ discursive manner are matters of the corporeal continued absence in a sociological consensus as well as Queer Theory. Racism and Sexism are only a few discriminatory practices that in Jose Estaban Munoz’s “excerpts from disidentifications” (1-19; 161-179) would call to action productive uses of Disidentification for certain Minoritarian subjects. Patrick Johnson makes a strong case for the corporeal but the debate between ‘theory and practice’ within Queer theory may marginalize bodies participating in transient practices. Making a distinction between sexuality and gender but particularly ‘gender identity’ and ‘gender expression’ has given vanguard to the transgender and gender non-conforming community. A positional definition of transgender being; one that does not identity as the sex they were assigned at birth would include non-binary identities as well. Queer theory illusions a realm of critiques that surely Michael Warner would deem aspirational or a future of multiplicity in identities. This short essay will highlight theory or understandings between the Unspeakable and Disidentification but aims to highlight the ‘transient’ or ‘transitioning’ as it’s own distinct practice. Reasonings for the transient as neither identity or expression but practice concerned with impermanence unavailable in Queer Theory may lie in an understand in evolution using internet search engines, sociological consensus, and linguistics.
According to Delany the Unspeakable “..is not fixed and locatable point of transgression that glows hotter and brighter as we approach it..”1 but “..set of positive connections governing what can be spoken of..”2. Delany focuses on the discursive as a position of priority in this statement but allows us to see value in transgression; an act that goes against law.. for a moment of impermanence in this reading of Queer Theory. Munoz says “..thinking about the power and poignancy of crisscrossed identification and desiring circuits..”3 though less discursive and more corporeal in writing also encompass common themes of power and resistance within Queer Theory. The ‘trans’ in ‘transgression’ is really the sight of interest as ‘trans’ asserts a state of action. As mentioned in the introduction, the process in which someone transitions is a state of action. Whether socially or medically transitioning to what WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) ‘Standards Of Care’ would define as transitioning to your ‘Target Gender’. The decision to “transition” is a decision not every transgender or non-binary person makes. To transition is it’s own form of Disidentification. A quick review of Disidentification from Professor Elena Basile’s class explains; Identification; resigning affirmatively, Counter Identification; Overly Rebellion, and Disidentification as neither assimilation or opposition. Tactical misrecognition. A survival tactic. According to Google or the sociological consensus, the internet is approximately forty five years old. These methodological practices are fairly historically recent. In matters of the everyday vernacular practices of transgender and non-binary youth.. internet searches localize themselves in specific applications such as Youtube in order to sociologically self-educate a process of cognitive, social, or physical understandings of transition. A contemporary sub-catagory or identities from and of search engines?
This further peaks a birth of a transition education as it’s own transient vernacular practice. A practice possibly not exclusive transgender and/or gender non-conforming people but also to non-heterosexuals or non-queers. Delany might put “..exterior urban portrait is entirely in terms of what it tells us of this momentary travesty of theatrical interiority..”4 as a homage to Butler, as theatrics of Performativity. More importantly, does this urban portrait exist in the virtual space of the internet? Again language of the transient are used once again but not within the context in valuing the momentary. Though Munoz corporeally expresses “..identities are forced in response to the cultural logics of heteronormativity..”5 contextualizing identity and subjects and not the environment. The question whether this transient we speak of is needed in constitution of it’s own identity category is put forward. Objectively it appears Delany is slightly more concerned with the discursive and Munoz is more inclusive of the corporeal. At closer examination the transient exists as a linguistic impermanence (with uses of ‘momentary’ and ‘response’) but not as it’s own theoretical or methodological practice. Furthermore, what constitutes subjects of sociological nature? What constitutes a consensus?
Even after concepts of Racism and Sexism are constituted by the sociological consensus, at what temporal location does a concept or practice achieve accordance with the ending of an ‘ism’ or ‘isms’? This temporal location is a particular variable in matters concerning the virtual or the internet. Possibly this temporal location is situated in Delany’s “..uncritical conjunction in the mind of certain social critics..”6 impermanently contextualizing between; the uncritical conjunction in the mind of certain social critics and not of these social critics as uncritical conjunction(ist). This is because Delany may discuss things more discursively than Munoz, but Delany is still able to make a temporal distinction between mind and subject. Further evidence of Munoz corporeal priorities is the mention of “..relative ease by majoritarian subjects..”7 which makes distinctions between the minority and the majority material bodies. Though, by making distinctions between categories comes with it’s own issues of Strategic Essencialism. As Anti- Social Thesis states within Queer Theory, categories create communities but dissolve social bonds. These acts of dissolving and solidifying, responding or resisting could perchance be better situated a practice of the transient or transition rather than issues of power..stated earlier. Creation of a multiplicity identities has served political potential and achievement in particular areas of human rights but discriminatory practices continue to substantiate. Additionally, one could argue both Delany and Munoz linguistic critique illusions itself as productive but binary and therefore exclusive.
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Concluding this essay we have discussed a various amounts of reasoning around the corporeal and the discursive. We first mentioned the themes of power and lack of focus of transient language by Delany and Munoz. Secondly we mentioned how Disidentification could be considered an act of transition and how social and medical transition education has become it’s own vernacular practice. Then we discussed how transient does exist within readings but as Linguistic Impermanence. Lastly Strategic Essencialism and Anti-Social Thesis existing simply in the readings of both Delany and Munoz shows beyond peradventure that linguistically fabric issues of binary critique. The variance of gender and sexuality identities is still a new field of empirical, methodological, and theoretical field of study. This paper simply water marks the subtle binaries in language and the concepts we formulate to contextualize and conceptualize issues of contemporary Queer Theory. Transient as a material practice encompasses both virtual and physical reality. Transition as transient practice within its own is a process of not corporeal or discursive. It is not relating to the body, nor is it digressing from subject to subject but a constant state of impermanence. Not every material, immaterial, transmaterial beings makes this choice to be in this constant state of impermanence but to emphasize may not reach a destination. To think in verbs not in nouns is a challenge but this is the true skill of linguistic inclusiveness. These examples of linkage between Queer Theory and the transient practices of internet search engines, sociological consensus, and linguistics are examples of evolution. Methodological ways in which technology variances our lives may give harmonious evidence for Queer Inhumanism.