‘—

Cohen

In her essay, Cathy Cohen has shown what contributed to the radical potential of queer activism. She mentions queer identities and queer politics being misrepresented and she stands by constructing a new identity for these oppressed people, because they aren’t looked at as the “norm”.  Queers are being rejected all because homosexuality seems to be the more acceptable and privileged group of people, highlighting the fact that heterosexuals are not viewed the same as queers, and they hold no power next to the dominated community. A new political identity that is uplifting and greatly re framed so gays, lesbians, transgender etc wont have to be subjected to narrowing their own identities, is one essential point of queer activism the author chooses to enforce.

“All heterosexuals are looked at as controlling and all queers are understood as marginalized or invisible” (Cohen, 440). Queer activism strengthens this divide between heterosexuals and those who are not put into this mold, and focuses on all categories of sexuality. Heteronormativity is the belief that people fall into distinct and complementary genders with natural roles in life and it is the cultural bias in favor of opposite-sex relationships of a sexual nature, and against same-sex relationships of a sexual nature. “Queers” want to be accepted and acknowledged in politics just as much as heterosexuals are and not only in a political sense but in America as a whole. Cohen mentions those that stand by this label of queer have to challenge heteronormativity throughout their lives and have a clear understanding of the issues that come with these challenges. This oppression otherwise forces peoples lives to go in a direction that isn’t their own, minimizing them. So Cathy Cohen explains the main reasons as to why queer activism arose, and what exactly contributed to these perspectives due to how these particular people are viewed in the eyes of society.