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Queer erasure

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(Redirected fromTransgender erasure)

Queer erasure(also known asLGBTQIA+ erasure) refers to the tendency to intentionally or unintentionally removeLGBTgroups or people from record, or downplay their significance, which includeslesbian,gay,bisexual,transgender,andqueerpeople.[1][2][3]This erasure can be found in a number of written and oral texts, including popular and scholarly texts.

In academia and media

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Queer historianGregory Samantha Rosenthalrefers to queer erasure in describing the exclusion ofLGBT historyfrom public history that can occur in urban contexts viagentrification.[4]Rosenthal says this results in the "displacement of queer peoples from public view".[5]Cáel Keegan describes the lack of appropriate and realistic representation of queer people,HIV-positive people,and queerpeople of coloras being a type of aesthetic gentrification, where space is being appropriated from queer people's communities where queer people are not given any cultural representation.[6]

Erasure of LGBT people has taken place in medical research and schools as well, such as in the case ofAIDS researchthat does not include lesbian populations.[citation needed]Medicine andacademiacan be places where visibility is produced or erased, such as the exclusion of gay and bisexual women inHIVdiscourses and studies or the lack of attention to LGBT identities in dealing withanti-bullyingdiscourse in schools.[citation needed]

Straightwashing

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Straightwashing is a form of queer erasure that refers to the portrayal of LGBT people, fictional characters, or historical figures as heterosexual.[7]It is most prominently seen in works of fiction, whereby characters who were originally portrayed as or intended to be homosexual, bisexual, or asexual are misrepresented as heterosexual.[8][9]

Bisexual erasure

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Bisexual pride flag,created by Michael Page

Bisexual erasure(or bi erasure), also called bisexual invisibility, is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence ofbisexualityinhistory,academia,thenews media,and otherprimary sources.[10][11][12]

In its most extreme form, bisexual erasure can include the belief that bisexuality itself does not exist.[10][12]Bisexual erasure may include the assertion all bisexual individuals are in a phase and will soon "choose a side", eitherheterosexualorhomosexual.Another common variant of bisexual erasure involves accepting bisexuality in women while downplaying or rejecting the validity of bisexual identity in men.[13]One belief underlying bisexual erasure is that bisexual individuals are distinctively indecisive.[14]Misrepresentations of bisexual individuals ashypersexualerases the sexual agency of bisexuals, effectively erasing their true identities as well.[15]

Bisexual erasure is often a manifestation ofbiphobia,[10][11][12]although it does not necessarily involve overt antagonism. Erasure frequently results in bisexual-identifying individuals experiencing a variety of adverse social encounters, as they not only have to struggle with finding acceptance within general society but also within theLGBT community.[16]Bisexual erasure is a form ofstigmaand leads to adverse mental health consequences for people who identify as bisexual, or similar, such aspansexual.[17][18]

Homosexuality erasure

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Gay erasure

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Lesbian erasure

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Lesbian erasureis a form oflesbophobiathat involves the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or reexplain evidence oflesbianwomen or relationships in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.[19][20]Lesbian erasure also refers to instances wherein lesbian issues, activism, and identity is deemphasized or ignored withinfeministgroups[21]or theLGBT community.[19][20]

Trans erasure

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In 2007,Julia Seranodiscussestrans-erasurein thetransfeministbookWhipping Girl.Serano says thattransgenderpeople are "effectively erased from public awareness" due to the assumption that everyone iscisgender(non-transgender) or that transgender identification is rare.[22]The notion of transgender erasure has been backed up by later studies.[23]

Aspec and agender erasure

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Aromantic erasure

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Aromanticpeople are often erased due to the societal expectation that everyone prospers with an exclusive romantic relationship, something thatElizabeth Brakehas coined as the termamatonormativity.Aromantic people face continued pressure and prejudice to conform to the "social norms" and form a permanent romantic relationship such as marriage.[24][25]

Asexual erasure

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Intersex erasure

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Intersexandtransgenderindividuals are often erased in public health research which conflates sex andgender(seesex–gender distinction).[26]The narrow and inflexible definitions of sex and gender in some countries means some intersex andnon-binarypeople are unable to obtain accurate legal documents or identification, preventing their access to public spaces, jobs, housing, education and basic services.[27]It is only recently that the concept oflegal rights for intersex peoplehas been considered,[28]even in LGBTI activist circles. However, there is a growingintersex activistcommunity which campaigns for intersex human rights, and againstintersex medical interventionswhich they see as unnecessary and mistreatment.[29]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Queer Erasure And Heteronormativity".The Odyssey Online.28 November 2016.Retrieved26 August2018.
  2. ^Scot, Jamie (2014). "A revisionist history: How archives are used to reverse the erasure of queer people in contemporary history".QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking.1(2): 205–209.doi:10.14321/qed.1.2.0205.S2CID154539718.
  3. ^Mayernick, Jason; Hutt, Ethan (June 2017). "US Public Schools and the Politics of Queer Erasure".Educational Theory.67(3): 343–349.doi:10.1111/edth.12249.ISSN0013-2004.
  4. ^Rosenthal, Gregory Samantha (1 February 2017)."Make Roanoke Queer Again".The Public Historian.39(1): 35–60.doi:10.1525/tph.2017.39.1.35.ISSN0272-3433.
  5. ^Rosenthal, Gregory Samantha (February 2017). "Make Roanoke Queer Again".The Public Historian.39(1): 35–60.doi:10.1525/tph.2017.39.1.35.S2CID151792218.
  6. ^Keegan, Cáel (2016). "History, Disrupted: The Aesthetic Gentrification of Queer and Trans Cinema". Social Alternatives. 35: 50–56 – via ProQuest.
  7. ^Petrow, Steven (20 June 2016)."The LGBT community feels the effects of 'straightwashing.' They're angry about it".Washington Post.Retrieved26 November2018.
  8. ^Mueller, Hannah (April 2018). "Queer TV in the 21st Century: Essays on Broadcasting from Taboo to Acceptance. Ed. Kylo-Patrick R.Hart. McFarland, 2016. 232 pp. $35.00 paperback".The Journal of Popular Culture.51(2): 550–553.doi:10.1111/jpcu.12662.ISSN0022-3840.
  9. ^Smith, Lydia (20 April 2018)."What is straightwashing? When Hollywood erases gay characters from films".Pink News.Retrieved23 July2018.
  10. ^abcMary Zeiss Stange; Carol K. Oyster; Jane E. Sloan (2011).Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World.Sage Pubns. pp. 158–161.ISBN978-1-4129-7685-5.Retrieved23 June2012.
  11. ^abDworkin, SH (2001). "Treating the bisexual client".Journal of Clinical Psychology.57(5): 671–80.doi:10.1002/jclp.1036.PMID11304706.
  12. ^abcHutchins, Loraine."Sexual Prejudice – The erasure of bisexuals in academia and the media".American Sexuality Magazine.San Francisco, CA: National Sexuality Resource Center, San Francisco State University. Archived fromthe originalon 16 December 2007.Retrieved19 July2007.
  13. ^"No Surprise for Bisexual Men: Report Indicates They Exist".The New York Times,August 22, 2011.
  14. ^Klesse, Christian (2011). "Shady Characters, Untrustworthy Partners, and Promiscuous Sluts: Creating Bisexual Intimacies in the Face of Heteronormativity and Biphobia".Journal of Bisexuality.11(2–3): 227–244.doi:10.1080/15299716.2011.571987.S2CID144102905.
  15. ^Rodriguez, JM (1 January 2016)."Queer Politics, Bisexual Erasure: Sexuality at the Nexus of Race, Gender, and Statistics".Lambda Nordica.21(1–2): 169–182.ISSN2001-7286.
  16. ^Berbary, Lisbeth A.; Guzman, Coco (21 November 2017). "We Exist: Combating Erasure Through Creative Analytic Comix about Bisexuality".Qualitative Inquiry.24(7): 478–498.doi:10.1177/1077800417735628.ISSN1077-8004.S2CID148705390.
  17. ^Ross, Lori E.; Salway, Travis; Tarasoff, Lesley A.; MacKay, Jenna M.; Hawkins, Blake W.; Fehr, Charles P. (13 June 2018)."Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety Among Bisexual People Compared to Gay, Lesbian, and Heterosexual Individuals:A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis".The Journal of Sex Research.55(4–5): 435–456.doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1387755.ISSN0022-4499.PMID29099625.
  18. ^Migdon, Brooke (1 December 2021)."New online LGBTQ+ glossary fails to include 'bisexual' and 'pansexual'".The Hill.Retrieved9 May2023.
  19. ^abWilton T (2002).Lesbian Studies: Setting an Agenda.Routledge.pp. 60–65.ISBN1134883447.
  20. ^abMorris, Bonnie J. (2016).The Disappearing L: Erasure of Lesbian Spaces and Culture(1st ed.). Albany, New York:State University of New York Press.pp. 1–203.ISBN978-1438461779.
  21. ^Eloit, Ilana (21 October 2019). "American lesbians are not French women: heterosexual French feminism and the Americanisation of lesbianism in the 1970s".Feminist Theory.20(4): 381–404.doi:10.1177/1464700119871852.S2CID210443044– viaSAGE Publishing.
  22. ^Serano, Julia (8 March 2016).Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity.Basic Books.ISBN978-1-58005-623-6.
  23. ^Norman, Kate (1 June 2017).Socialising Transgender: Support for Transition.Dunedin Academic Press Ltd.ISBN978-1-78046-571-5.[permanent dead link]
  24. ^"Aphobia, understanding the discrimination and effects".29 January 2023.Retrieved25 March2023.
  25. ^Brown, Sherronda J. (26 December 2017)."Romance is Not Universal, Nor is it Necessary".Wear Your Voice.Archived fromthe originalon 12 April 2018.Retrieved15 April2018.
  26. ^Morrison, Tessalyn; Dinno, Alexis; Salmon, Taurica (19 August 2021). "The Erasure of Intersex, Transgender, Nonbinary, and Agender Experiences by Misusing Sex and Gender in Health Research".American Journal of Epidemiology.190(12): 2712–2717.doi:10.1093/aje/kwab221.ISSN0002-9262.PMID34409983.
  27. ^Levin, Sam (25 October 2018)."'Erasure of an entire group': intersex people fear Trump anti-trans memo ".The Guardian.
  28. ^Bird, Jo (2005–2006)."Outside the Law: Intersex, Medicine and the Discourse Rights".Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender.12:65.
  29. ^Khanna, Niki (2021). "Invisibility and Trauma in the Intersex Community".Violence Against LGBTQ+ Persons: Research, Practice, and Advocacy.Springer International Publishing. pp. 185–194.doi:10.1007/978-3-030-52612-2_14.ISBN978-3-030-52611-5.S2CID228845383.