Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

submittedVersion

Publication Date

9-2023

Abstract

This article advances the idea of ‘queer kinaesthetics’ to show how moving through difference can enable disaggregated individuals to realize a new sense of becoming. Doing so involves rejecting the categories of identity that lead to disaggregation in the first place, and reorienting the self by developing a distinctly and radically (dis) embodied subject position. I illustrate these ideas by exploring the queer kinaesthetics of drag. Drag is most commonly associated with queer, cisgender males embodying otherness in order to come to terms with the disaggregation that many experience in heteronormative society, and through the heterological norms of representation. By learning how to ‘sissy that walk’ they transcend the cultural codes of social life by embracing a process-oriented ontology that involves moving through difference in search of a more autonomous sense of self-realization.

Keywords

Queer kinaesthetics, bodies, movement, mobility-through-difference, RuPaul’s drag race

Discipline

Gender and Sexuality | Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication | Sociology of Culture

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies

First Page

1

Last Page

13

ISSN

1030-4312

Identifier

10.1080/10304312.2023.2253384

Publisher

Taylor and Francis Group

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2023.2253384

Download

Share

COinS