Queer feminine disidentificatory orientations: occupying liminal spaces of queer fem(me)inine (un)belonging

This thesis develops fresh critical insights regarding dynamics of queer feminine identity construction and community (un)belonging, with a specific focus on the rhetorics and realities of inclusion and exclusion occurring within queer feminine identities, communities and representations. The project takes a intersectional approach to exploring these dynamics by interrogating how various positionalities (e.g. “race”, disability, class etc.) interact with queer feminine genders and sexualities. Synthesising insights from Sara Ahmed’s (2006) queer phenomenology regarding processes of orientation with José Esteban Muñoz’s (1999) theory of disidentifications, the project explores the possibilities that experiences and articulations of queer feminine disidentificatory orientations offer for a critical take on queer femininities from within. The key research question that this project addresses is: How and why are disidentificatory orientations experienced by various differently positioned queer feminine subjects and what can queer feminine disidentificatory orientations tell us about dynamics of inclusion, exclusion and (un)belonging within queer feminine subjectivities, communities and representations? The project developed a collaborative queer fem(me)inist ethnographic approach that combined questionnaires, interviews and visual materials (collages and photographs) produced by a diverse sample of 15 queer feminine participants in the UK, with insights gained from a discursive analysis of three major contemporary femme anthologies: Chloë Brushwood Rose and Anna Camilleri’s (2002) Brazen Femme, Ulrika Dahl and Del LaGrace Volcano’s (2008) Femmes of Power and Jennifer Clare Burke’s (2009) Visible. The project presents a significant new data set which demonstrates the complexities, politics and cultures of femme subjectivities and the ranges of (sub)cultural capitals that one has to either already be invested in, or actively invest in, to access queer feminine identities, recognition and community belonging. Thus, the project argues for the continued necessity of engaging in positioned reflexive work on the lived experiences of minority subjects within our own queer, feminist and femme communities.