TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF QUEER PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY. A PINK/RAINBOW PRINT FOR A LAB.PART ONE. BY STEVEN BENSON

CAVEAT; this does not constitute material, directly, for the lab; it is pointing, first and foremost, my own compass, to see from where we begin……

{NOMENCLATURE(the devising or choosing-sic-of names for things) FIRST!:

Divagating before we even start our ramble……..

The use of the word “Queer” as a synonym for gay men, lesbians/gay women, bisexual and trans people is contested by a significant number of people. Older (not always) gay men and women say the re-appropriation/”re-appropriation” of a previously pejorative word(an insult, a wound, to some of us) is problematic. It is. I note this important point, here, in this blog; for my own self-alignment, because of said peoples’ usually justified indignation of the re-claiming/”re-claiming” ; and also because I, myself, do not prefer the word “queer” as a synonym for gay man; I prefer, “gay man”.But then I do not remember ever being called queer in an insulting manner (many do….)…….

It is, in fact, an aporia. A word(queer) enthusiastically re-claimed by many (younger but not always) gay men, lesbians/gay women, bisexuals and trans people; and-often- even more ringingly by non-gender-binary, a-romantic, a-sexual and others [sorry for the “others…”; in fact that is often WHY queer is used as a broad umbrella for lgbtq++ people; a further, attempted mediation of the issue is to add more initial letters to the LGBTQ+(+) acronym.]

I, speaking only personally, as a gay man, LIKE the idea of an umbrella nomenclature: a brolley brings us ALL together, sheltering from the (heavy)rain of hetero/cis-normativity. I would not, personally, have chosen queer; but then I cannot think of anything else: peculiar??? pervert???[that had a brief attempted reclamation by Lesbians and gays support the Miners in the 80s, but it, understandingly, never caught on:P].

An aporia, as I say; a rabbit-hole, burrowing further into our own, internalised, and hegemonic society’s erasure of a very essential element of our deepest selves. IF we disappear underground thus, the mainstream-the homo/bi/trans phobes- have won (often called “divide and rule” tactics, setting of {SUB-}minorities off against each other).

That said: the antithetical thought is that some people have been called “gay” as pejorative/ridiculing; one person said he nearly did not attend my lgbt+ Social Group because the word Queer was not in the wording on the website……

See what I mean……}

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I need and want to say the above anyway; but in pinkprinting a course/lab re Queer Psychogeography, we need to define and argue for the chosen nomenclature:

SO, the rationale is:

Every member of the lab can RE-CONFIGURE queer to themselves(as individuals), as merely the overall term; at least,a serious attempt at encompassing as many LGBTQ++ people as possible;who want to broaden psychogeography- in ALL its incarnations and manifestations-out.

Thus, it may and will (if there is demand/interest) include gay mens’ psychogeography, which is often about cottaging, cruising and pubs [to-at least KNOWINGLY stereotype….], or other meeting places for sex and/or society, perhaps especially, but not confined to, earlier eras .CAVEAT again, I speak only of the UK.

It may include the lesbian flaneuse.…

It may include building (literally, spaces/places)diversity around gender identity and/or fluidity: I googled “trans psychogeography” and got NOTHING in respect of its psycho-geographical manifestation; but initial words/ideas would be, from me: across, amidst, athwart: liminal, physical/group/emotional meeting-places that allow for diversity of gender identity, whether predicated on a gender-binary (Cis and trans) or not (NON-gender-binary, genderqueer, gender-fluid). Though this trans/NGB-particular avenue seems unexplored,its development can come from lab members; really new territory (in the psychogeographical scape/scope we are starting to explore).

That is the essence of a lab(oratory); we experiment; or -to be less forensic and dissectional-we CREATE, DEVISE, EXPLORE, PEREGRINATE; like all good psychogeographers…….

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SO, I want to finish this opening of our lab of (re-)creation, of (re-)inhabitation of OUR spaces (as QUEER PSYCHOGEOGRAPHERS) with a few teasers/testers for the next post, which will forego the meta[nomenclature] for the elusive (sometimes) and wide-ranging exposition and creation of the terms of reference/indications/illustrations (sometimes, literally, via photography) for queer psychogeography; which is as much open to expansion from YOU(the denizens of the lab) as from defintion(s) by me and my collaborator:

HINT ONE: think: urban landscapes

ruminate: rural landscapes

Cogitate; how you are placed,as queer( and/or gay man, lesbian, bisexual,trans person) in these; included/excluded/just plain invisibilised or tokenised or marginalised.

Contemplate: are we talking PHYSICAL bricks-and-mortar buildings; zoom meetings (SO relevant in Covid “landscapes”); and/or emotional/psychological spaces.

Finally, please consider:”What might I be hinting at/suggesting? “

SO, bring the psycho and the geography TOGETHER; add in queer (and all previously-referenced sub-“categories”/self-definitions); and what kind of writing results therefrom?

This will take us to our(my…) first definition: of (mainstream AND queer)psychogeography……….

I have, I hope, left you on a ledge; or-merely-hanging from a cliff:……

{TO BE CONTINUED}