sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies
Article Title
Marriage Equality and “It Gets Better”: Neoliberalism and the Absence of Political Feeling
Abstract
The fight for marriage equality and the “It Gets Better” campaign exist as two activist movements within contemporary gay liberation politics. This paper will understand these iterations of activism as both emanating from and perpetuating our neoliberal and capitalist present. Through striving for the politics of inclusion, both marriage equality and the IGB campaign merely rearrange the societal and rhetorical plane rather than undertake structural change—that which critically questions the very structures that individuals want to be included into. Using Foucault’s (1976) exploration of the repression of sex within marriage, as well as Cvetkovich’s (2012) theories of depression, I ask the reader to consider the space of emotional impasse that is sacrificed at the expense of these iterations of activism. Through critiquing the movements as absent of feeling and part of the veil of “progress,” this paper hopes to open up spaces for us to think together about what activism—saturated in feeling and with queer temporality—might look like.
Publication Date
2015
Recommended Citation
Carey, Kristi
(2015)
"Marriage Equality and “It Gets Better”: Neoliberalism and the Absence of Political Feeling,"
sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies: Vol. 8, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/sprinkle/vol8/iss1/2
Included in
Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons