Queer Theory is relatively new (within the past 20 years or so) and, in my opinion, quite the complex subject. What I basically gathered from our readings in class is that we don’t fully know what queer theory is. As designers we understand that it these difference make an impact on how a person perceives an environment, but there isn’t a pattern or prescriptive design titled “queer” because it doesn’t exist (nor should it).
“Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea that identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are. It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in general about ‘women’ or any other group, as identities consist of so many elements that to assume that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong. Indeed, it proposes that we deliberately challenge all notions of fixed identity, in varied and non-predictable ways.”
The appeal of “queer theory” has outstripped anyone’s sense of what exactly it means. The term “queer” focuses on mismatches between sex, gender and desire. Institutionally, queer has been associated with most prominently with lesbian and gay subjects, but its analytic framework also includes such topics as cross-dressing, hermaphroditism, gender ambiguity and gender-corrective surgery.
“Queer is always an identity under construction, a site of permanent becoming: utopic in its negativity, queer theory curves endlessly toward a realization that its realization remains impossible…. Queer is not outside the magnetic field of identity. Like some postmodern architecture, it turns identity inside out, and displays its supports exoskeletally.” (Jagose 1996)
(Pompidou)
We can no longer says that women need “x,y,z” and men need “1,2,3” – there are no rules. Our designs should be based off of user-based needs which are unique to each individual.
Sources:
Agrest, D.; Conway, P.; and Weisman, L.K. (1996) Introduction. The Sex of Architecture. New York: Harry Abrams. 11-13.
Jagose, A. (1996) Queer Theory. Australian Humanities Review. Retrieved from http://www.australianhumanitiesreview.org/archive/Issue-Dec-1996/jagose.html
Filed under: Theory, feminist, gay, homosexual, interior design, lesbian, queer theory
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