‘—

Hannah Lee in class cohen assignment

In Cathy J. Cohens work, “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens,” she explains the oppression of queers. Cohen emphasizes how sexuality is socially constructed and how categorizing the different branches of sexuality is demeaning and oppressing.  Categorizing sexuality ultimately gives certain amount of powers to each group, putting heterosexuality at the top of it. This translates heterosexuality as the “norm” within our society. This unjust system continues to marginalize and hinder queer activists. With queer politics at the bottom of this man made sexual hierarchy, queers are given almost no social standing. They are arguably the most oppressed within the sexual categories; and to be a black, female queer would result in a triple oppression because of their sexuality,sex, and race, being that white males are evidently more privileged. It is nearly impossible for queers to make any progress until we realize sexuality is a spectrum. And, we have to re-conceptualize our understanding of the term sexuality. And by doing so, it is necessary to break down the categorizing of sexuality, so we can view each other as equals. For queer activists to achieve their goal to have their own rights, they have to recognize all rights, for all that are oppressed.  These multiple forms of oppression that is embedded in our system continues to put those that does not meet the social expectations to be unprivileged, socially and economically. I think before being an activist for a certain community, one must be a humanist before anything else. We are all fighting for human rights. And I think this is what Cohen is trying to get at. You cannot make any progressive change for a group, without attacking the whole system. By breaking down the divisions that have been historically made to oppress certain individuals, can we then begin to make any real changes for anyone.