How do you perceive the relationship between Beyonce and Shakira? Why is their performance so sexualized? What if they were men? What difference does it make? Who is Eve Sedgwick? • 1950-2009 • Received undergraduate degree from Cornell and Ph.D from Yale in English. • One of the founders of queer theory inspired by Foucault's work. • Married to Hal Sedgwick in 1969. • Professor of English at Duke and City University of New York. • Other major works: "Epistemology of the Closet" (1990); "A Dialogue on Love" (1999); "Touching Feeling : Affect, Pedagogy, Perfomativity" (2003) • Author of: "Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire" (1985) Sedgwick's Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosocial Desire • Homosocial: social relationships between members of the same sex • Homosocial desire: Umbrella term for all types of same-sex relationships - romantic, platonic, antagonistic, etc. • Male vs. Female • Distinction between homosocial and homosexual desire is only applicable for men • Men looking out for the interests of other men vs. men loving other men Now let's get Wilde... • Homophobia is the interruption in the homosocial continuum between homosexuality and the rest of the continuum, according to Sedgwick. • A predominantly homophobic society deems a romantic relationship between two men to be unacceptable; therefore men are forced to look for excuses to connect on a deeper level. • In "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.", the theory of Shakespeare's sonnets is the excuse for the characters to connect on that deeper level. • The interruption in their relationship is represented by their time apart; society creates a difference in their beliefs and their relationship. Homophobia and Patriarchy • For our society, homophobia is a consequence of patriarchal institutions such as heterosexual marriage. • Femininity is defined by what appeals to men as a part of patriarchal gender roles. Homophobia is created out of this in that men appealing to each other makes them “feminine”it defies their gender role. • SO: Patriarchy --> misogyny --> homophobia. • Although most patriarchal societies have historically exhibited homophobia, Sedgwick argues that it is not a requirement. • This point is illustrated by Athenian society. Sedgwick's Erotic Triangle • Girard's Ménage à trois meets Freud's Oedipal drama • Consists of two men and a woman • The woman is used primarily to deepen male relationship "...Use of women as exchangeable, perhaps symbolic, property for the primary purpose of cementing the bonds of men with men." (Gayle Rubin) • Motif in English literature Example: Shakespeare's Sonnets Sedgwick's Examples in Between Men The Country Wife (1675) cuckoldry, games between men Confessions of a Justified Sinner (1824) gothic paranoia Princess - Tennyson (1847) conflicts of men Our Mutual Friend - Dickens (1864) ties to homophobia and misogyny Le déjeuner sur l'herbe