Queer-Feminist Counter-Cultures, Punk Music and the Anti-Social Turn in Queer Theory

347 Pages·2013·2.41 MB·English

DISSERTATION
Titel der Dissertation

“We’re Punk as Fuck and Fuck like Punks:”* Queer-Feminist
Counter-Cultures, Punk Music and the Anti-Social Turn in Queer
Theory
Verfasserin
Mag.a Phil. Maria Katharina Wiedlack
angestrebter akademischer Grad
Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr. Phil.)
Wien, Jänner 2013
Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 092 343
Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Anglistik und Amerikanistik
Betreuerin / Betreuer: Univ. Prof.in Dr.in Astrid Fellner

Earlier versions and parts of chapters One, Two, Three and Six have been published in
the peer-reviewed online journal Transposition: the journal 3 (Musique et théorie
queer) (2013), as well as in the anthologies Queering Paradigms III ed. by Liz Morrish
and Kathleen O’Mara (2013); and Queering Paradigms II ed. by Mathew Ball and
Burkard Scherer (2012);
* The title “We’re punk as fuck and fuck like punks” is a line from the song Burn your Rainbow
by the Canadian queer-feminist punk band the Skinjobs on their 2003 album with the same
name (released by Agitprop Records).
Content

1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1

2. “To Sir With Hate:”
A Liminal History of Queer-Feminist Punk Rock ….………………………..…… 21

3. “We’re punk as fuck and fuck like punks:”
Punk Rock, Queerness, and the Death Drive ………………………….………….. 69

4. “Challenge the System and Challenge Yourself:”
Queer-Feminist Punk Rock’s Intersectional Politics and Anarchism……...……… 119

5. “There’s a Dyke in the Pit:”
The Feminist Politics of Queer-Feminist Punk Rock……………..…………….. 157

6. “A Race Riot Did Happen!:”
Queer Punks of Color Raising Their Voices ..……………..………… ………….. 207

7. “WE R LA FUCKEN RAZA SO DON’T EVEN FUCKEN DARE:”
Anger, and the Politics of Jouissance ……….………………………….…………. 257

8. “We’ve got to show them we’re worse than queer:”
Epilog ……………………………………………………………….……………. 289

References ………………………………………………………………………… 313

Abstracts ………………………………………………………………………….. 335
CV ………………………………………………………………………………… 337

Acknowledgements

The completion of this doctoral dissertation was facilitated by grants from the Austrian
Agency for International Cooperation in Research and Education (the Marietta Blau
scholarship), the University of Vienna (Short Term Grant abroad) as well as the
Students Union of the University of Vienna (ÖH-Uni-Wien-Topf zur Förderung
feministischer/queerer Nachwuchswissenschafter*innen).

I want to thank my supervisors Astrid Fellner and Hanna Hacker for their important
and careful comments, their patience and critique. I am very grateful for their support
of this unconventional project. I also want to thank Antke Engel for her critique and
advice that helped me immensely to develop my theoretical approach.
I want to express my gratefulness to my dear friend Nina Aron, who supported me with
her riot grrrl wisdom as well as with her scholarly expertise. I also want to thank Cora
Leighton and Lauren Perlman for discussing my work and sharing their knowledge
with me. Moreover, I thank my interview partners Christy Road, Lee Frezari, Glynis
Hull-Rochelle, Nein and the ‘Gay Campers,’ Osa Atoe, Errin Donahue, Karen
Pittelman, Emily Rems, Kate Watkins, Lauran and the For the Birds Collective, Mary
Feaster, and Selena from the band NeighTrain.
Additionally, I thank Johanna Maria Rodriguez and the Gender and Women’s Studies
Department at the University of California Berkeley for hosting me as visiting
researcher. Last but not least I want to thank the participants of the Queer People of
Color Reading group and the Decolonial Feminism Reading Group (2011/2012) at the
Gender and Women’s Studies Department at the University of California Berkeley for
working with me and inspiring me with their knowledge and critical thinking.

1
1
“We’re Punk as Fuck and Fuck like Punks:” Queer-Feminist
Counter-Cultures, Punk Music and the Anti-Social Turn in
Queer Theory

1. Introduction

The topic of this doctoral dissertation is queer-feminist punk in the US between the mid-
1980s and today. What I understand as queer-feminist punk includes countercultures, as
well as individual bands, musicians, writers and organizers, their politics and productions.
Some of them are known as queercore, homocore or dykecore, as well as riot grrrl, some
might be signified through different labels. Despite their different labels, and self-
identifications, I understand the individual protagonists, scenes as well as their artistic and
political discourses that I collected for my analysis as connected. Accordingly, I argue that
queer-feminist punk countercultures belong to or form a political movement and that their
productions—lyrics, writing, sound and performances—should be seen as a form of queer-
feminist activism and agency. Furthermore, I argue that queer-feminist punk
countercultural agents do not only engage with queer and feminist politics, as well as
academic theory, but also produce queer-feminist political theory—a more or less coherent
set of ideas to analyze, explain and counter oppressive social structures, as well as explicit
and open violence and oppression.
The usage of the terminology of queer-feminist politics—rather than queer
politics—is inspired by the tradition of many activists around the world who account for
the still prevalent sexism, misogyny and inequality in mainstream cultures as well as queer
movements by foregrounding the feminist aspects of their queer politics. More recently,
similar politics found their way into academic accounts, for example, through the book
Feminism is Queer: The Intimate Connection between Queer and Feminist Theory (2010)
by Mimi Marinucci, as well as the work of José Muñoz,2 Judith Jack Halberstam,3 and

1 The title “We’re Punk as Fuck and Fuck like Punks” is a line from the song Burn your Rainbow by the
Canadian queer-feminist punk band the Skinjobs on their 2003 album with the same name (released by
Agitprop Records).
2 Especially the books Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1999 and Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity New York:
New York UP, 2009 by José Muñoz are from a decidedly feminist and queer perspective.
2
others. Such activist and academic accounts alike conceptualize their queer politics as a
continuation of feminist movements and theory rather than as a revolutionary break with it.
Furthermore, such accounts seek a dialogue between lesbian and gay movements, second
wave feminists and the diverse range of queer movements to build alliances and forms of
solidarity.
My examples of queer-feminist punk rock activists equally seek to find alliances with
different groups of queer, feminist and decolonial thinkers and activists. They and their
allies understand the usefulness of queer, feminist and decolonizing politics, activist
strategies and social analysis against racialized discrimination, misogyny, homophobia,
ableism, and transphobia of mainstream culture as well as the countercultural
environments of punk rock and queer scenes.
They combine feminist and decolonial accounts with their specific punk philosophy of
anti-social queerness or queer negativity. Analyzing lyrical content, writing, music, sound,
performances and countercultural settings in general, I provide examples of queer-feminist
anti-social accounts of punk music, like expressions of negativity and anger, and argue that
queer-feminist punk rock as such can be understood as a politics of negativity. Relating
such queer-feminist punk negativity to academic concepts and scholarly work, I show how
punk rock is capable of negotiating and communicating academic queer-feminist
theoretical positions in a non-academic setting. Moreover, I argue that queer-feminist punk
does not only negotiate, translate and appropriate academic accounts, but also produce
similar negative and repoliticized queer-feminist theories without any direct inspiration
through academic discourses.
Taking queer-feminist punk countercultural discourses seriously, I, furthermore,
argue that queer-feminist punk communities accomplish what academic queer theory
following the Anti-Social Turn often does not achieve: they transform their radically anti-
social queer positions into (models for) liveable activism. Moreover, they form social
bonds through queer negativity that exceed normative forms of relationality.

3 Halberstam explains her feminist take on queer theory strongly in her books In a Queer Time and Place:
Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York University P, 2005 and The Queer Art of
Failure Durham and London: Duke University P, 2011.