Queer Theory/Queer Lives
Reading Questions

Foucault
Sedgwick

Foucault:
1. How did discourse affect sexuality?
2. Who was allowed to talk about sex and how was it allowed to be talked about?  Where could these discussions take place?  (Another way of asking this is: What major institutions and processes played roles in these
discourses, and what roles did they play?)
4. How did some sexualities became "contrary to nature" in the 19th century?
5. pp. 40-44: What are some of the power mechanisms that affected discourses of sexuality?
6. How were the concepts "homosexuality" and "hermaphrodism" defined and interpreted?
7. pp. 45-end: How do power and pleasure interact or "spiral?"

Sedgwick:
1. Why is legal discourse of interest to Sedgwick?
2. How does Spargo talk about Sedgwick?
3. What does Sedgwick say about ignorance and its uses?
4. What is the closet and how does Sedgwick see it operating socially?
5. What is the relationship between the personal and the political: a. according to Sedgwick and b. according to yourself?