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Cathy Cohen

In her piece “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens”, Cathy Cohen discusses queer politics, an idea that many people thought would transform the structure and operations of oppressive systems especially against the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities. However, Cohen argues that queer activism is not an efficient way to transform oppressive conditions. According to Cohen, a downfall to queer politics is their dichotomization of sexuality and exclusion of other oppressed groups. Focusing on sexuality has cost the movement any potential growth due to their consistent isolation. The government’s domination over sexuality was critical because it used a “scientific” standpoint to prohibit and obstruct sexual identities that the queer movement has been focused on. Such intervention made it harder for people to associate freely with sexual behaviors that go against the law. Furthermore, the divide between different groups that were oppressed made it more challenging to change the politics surrounding sexuality and the identities of many. I think Cohen suggests a more successful transformation if the queer movement has connected with other minority groups who were also oppressed. The fight would become bigger if different groups joined all together as one and faced their oppressor (government).

Cathy Cohen suggests that in order to bring change and be more effective as activists, we must critically study power and the role that gender, race, and class play when it comes to its distribution. This is a very important point because it seems true that queer activist have overlooked other contributing factors to their oppression rather than just their sexuality and what people identify as.  It is very significant to bond with different groups of people in order to understand different forms of oppression from many perspectives. Not only does this concentrate more power to the activists, but it also strengthens the cause in which they are all fighting for (equality).