Cody Sheppard Shaw

Feminist Philosophy
March 13, 2020

Queer Epistemology and Theory as a Potential Solution to Neoliberalism

Introduction

Queer Theory has undoubtedly been informed and influenced by Marxism, despite the

blindness to questions of sexuality that characterize Marxist theory. Queer theory has been

defined in relation to its exclusion from Marxism, argued by Kevin Floyd in his book “The

Reification of Desire: Towards a Queer Marxism.” This is due to Marxism’s characteristic

avoidance or outright refusal to acknowledge questions concerning sexuality and the politics it

encompasses. Neoliberalism’s dangerous dominance as an economic philosophy can be clearly

illustrated through antiheteronormative critiques of Marxism. Additionally, through an analysis

of Neoliberalism’s continuous effects on care ethics, a pattern of epistemic injustice against

sexually marginalized groups can be observed.

These injustices are clearly denoted in Kim Q. Hall’s discussion of Queer Epistemology,

where responses and theoretical solutions to testimonial and hermeneutical injustices are

addressed. These injustices can only be properly tackled through a Queer perspective through a

reshaping of our notions of care ethics, which have been drastically restructured by

Neoliberalism’s domineering presence in society.

This need is argued for best in Joan Tronto’s essay, “Homines Curran’s and The Limits

of Neoliberalism.” Tronto sets an ontological precedent over her argument by asserting that

humans are, before all else, “homines curans”, or caring humans. Not only does this argument fit

seamlessly within queer notions of intersectional caring, but Tronto’s critiques of the limitations
of Neoliberalism and Late Capitalism also provide theoretical solutions for more democratic

systems of care.

Common discussions of social totality, reification, and critiques of Neoliberalism are

covered both in Kevin Floyd’s “The Reification of Desire: Towards a Queer Marxism” and

Rosemary Hennessy’s “Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism.” Both texts

tackle Neoliberalism from an antiheteronormative perspective, analyzing the inherent tension

between Marxism and Queer Theory and how that dynamic affects the epistemic participation

and interactions of Queers in society. Floyd’s argument is centered on how Queer Theory is

defined in relation to its exclusion from Marxist thought, and how the dichotomous relationship

between Queer Theory and Marxism reveals Marxism’s explanatory power and epistemic

limitations.

Rosemary Hennessy’s discussion of the visibility of queerness in commodity culture and

the subsequent commodification of queerness presents essential arguments concerning the nature

of materialism and its effects on Queer Theory. Materialism has presented an essentialized and

limited perspective of queer subjectivity, which has presented issues for both dominant and

marginalized sexual groups.

Reflections on this diverse selection of articles present a more holistic view of the effects

of Neoliberalism on Queer experiences and epistemology, where injustices committed against

marginalized groups by dominant economic powers become increasingly evident.

Queer Epistemology + Essential Terminology

In order to deconstruct and critique neoliberalism through an antiheteronormative

perspective, several definitive terms must be reoriented. Kim Q. Hall’s essay “Queer
Epistemology and Epistemic Injustice” asserts an essential argument concerning the occupation

of sexuality in western thought. While concepts of gender and sexuality are often associated with

the erotic, it is more accurate to place these concepts within the realm of epistemology. This

allows critiques of epistemic injustice committed against marginalized communities by

oppressive structures to be better articulated. In addition to this reorientation of sexuality, Hall

provides important definitions of these epistemic injustices, particularly injustices that are

testimonial and hermeneutical in nature. Hall summarizes an antiheteronormative approach to

these injustices on page 159 of her essay, stating,

“A queer epistemological approach to testimonial injustice attends not only to the

silencing of those deemed deviant but also the epistemic violence perpetuated by the compulsion

to occupy an identity category, to understand oneself as a certain kind of person because of one’s

desires and actions.” (Hall, P.159)

Hall contends that an antiheteronormative perspective on structures of power that dictate

queer life can be dismantled through a more holistic approach to epistemic violence. This

argument is advanced by challenging two prevailing assumptions made by dominantly

heteronormative societies. First, that sexuality is an innate and constant facet of human nature,

and secondly, that sexual identities and acts are dependant upon the need to know and categorize

them as sexual identities and acts. These assumptions are only strengthened by Neoliberalism’s

dominance as a social practice, as exemplified by Hall and Floyd’s similar discussions of “The

Closet ''' as an instance of epistemic violence. “The Closet'' is a term broadly used to describe the

state of a person’s relationship with their sexuality, where being “out” of the closet implies a

state of knowing inner truth and acceptance while being “in” the closet implies a state of
ignorance and unknowing of supposed “certain'' knowledge. Hall argues that the tension created

by this out/in dichotomy produces a clear example of epistemic justice, where the sexually

minoritized group is forced to conform to western sexual categorization. This epistemic injustice

removes the sexual minority from any sense of autonomy over their own sexual identity.

This argument is notable as it also applies to “Crip” theory and disability activism, as

discussed in “Queer and crip epistemologies” on page 164. Both Antiheternormative and “Crip”

perspectives bring into question normalization of neoliberal assumptions made within these

fields, where an understanding of intersecting structures of power and oppression is essential.

Neoliberalism and Adverse Effects on Care Ethics

A more expansive definition and critique of Neoliberalism from an antiheteronormative

perspective are given in Joan Tronto’s essay “ There is an alternative: homines curans and the

limits of neoliberalism”. Tronto succinctly dissects assumptions made and enforced by

Neoliberalism and how they have detrimentally affect conceptions and practices of care ethics.

These assumptions essentialize humans to their relationship with market economies, creating

standards that inflict multiple epistemic injustices on sexually marginalized groups.

Neoliberalism assumes that the market is the best institution to solve social issues,

allocate resources, and provide individual freedoms. The second assumption neoliberalism

makes is that societies are most successful when “rational actors”, humans, are allowed to make

choices in the market and that anything impeding that choice is an inherent reduction of

individual freedom. The third critical assumption that neoliberalism makes is that humans fit

within a market-driven world. These assumptions have proven incredibly harmful to modern

conceptions of care, placing humans under the weight of a massive amount of personal
responsibility for their care, instead of encouraging an intersectional and interdependent notion

of care. Neoliberal caring is dangerous because it assumes that groups who can’t thrive within it

are individually failing, without acknowledging the contextual disadvantages of sexually

marginalized groups. The destructive nature of Neoliberalism’s concept of care can be

summarized by Tronto on page 31,

“In the first place, they are inadequate because they misunderstand the nature of human

beings. In the second place, though, neoliberal ideas of the market need to be placed in a

historical context that reveals their inadequacy and shows that they can be defeated.” (Tronto, P.

31)

Tronto is deliberate in her reminder to the reader that care is always contextual, and

should never be essentialized to one scenario. Care has a specific meaning relating to the context

it occupies. Political caring refers to the allocation of caring resources and responsibilities. In a

neoliberal conception of care, political caring continues to only benefit dominant groups because

of the plethora of systems built around that goal and definition of care. Tronto proposes a

democratic form of care and a restructuring of our understanding of personal freedom to

correspond to the relationship between care and equality.

While Tronto’s argument focuses on critiquing neoliberalism from a feminist perspective,

this doesn’t exclude antiheteronormative approaches to dismantling limiting aspects of

neoliberalism. Feminism’s characteristic focus on intersectionality invites Queer theorists to

expand upon epistemic injustices created by neoliberalism to counter the effects of what feminist

philosopher Kevin Floyd calls, “contemporary regimes of capital accumulation.”(Floyd, P.3)

This can be accomplished and expanded upon through antiheteronormative perspectives explored

in Kevin Floyd’s essay, “The Reification of Desire: Towards a Queer Marxism.”

Queer Marxism and Antiheteronormative perspectives on Neoliberalism

Kevin Floyd argues that feminist perspectives on Marxism can both utilize its

explanatory power and reveal epistemic limitations. Marxism’s avoidance or refusal to

acknowledge issues concerning questions of sexuality and its politics reveals a need for

consideration of the dynamics of capital and queerness in its current global neoliberal phase.

Marxism is traditionally focused on thinking of social relations through the lens of totality,

which is translated to the Marxian tendency to deprioritize questions of sexuality and its politics.

This subordinates queerness in favor of more “total” concerns, leaving sexuality in the Marxist

perspective as merely cultural and always particularized. This argument is furthered in Michael

Warner’s book, “Fear of a Queer Planet”, which Floyd quotes,

“‘materialist thinking about society’ had especially been characterized by a tendency to

elide questions of sexuality from its understanding of the social, but that this very elision only

served to reinforce an objectively totalized heteronormativity.” (Floyd, P.5)

Neoliberalism’s essentialized notion of sexuality only advances an anti-queer social

agenda by further marginalizing sexual minority groups and asserting a rigid standard of

heteronormativity to fit within the market economy. This argument is furthered by Floyd’s

discussion of Eve Sedgewick’s “Epistemology of the Closet”, where Sedgewick argues that

modern Western culture is fundamentally damaged in its ability to comprehend

antiheteronormative perspectives because of its avoidance of any critical analysis of modern

homo/heterosexual definition. This contributes to previously discussed testimonial and

hermeneutical injustices, which prevent sexually marginalized and minoritized groups from

articulating their experience fully within Western society.

Floyd continues previous arguments concerning the dangers of neoliberalism in his

chapter titled “On a Queer Horizon: David Wojnarowicz and the Violence of Neoliberalism.” In

this, the discussion turns to the prevalence of zoning laws as a broader form of population

control, and as a clear example of epistemic violence against queer communities. Neoliberalism

has a long history of isolating already marginalized communities using unjust and exploitative

zoning laws, Floyd cites the spread of Fordist ideology in the 1960s and its negative effects on

the working class as an allegorical example. Similarly, the prevalence of zoning laws in urban

areas has disrupted epicenters of queer social life in favor of more economically efficient land

use. This is a clear example of Neoliberalism’s use of violence against marginalized

communities in favor of new market-driven opportunities, as argued by Floyd on Page 207,

“Neoliberalism is sometimes contrasted with the neoconservative war on terror in terms

of the divergence between the neoliberal objective of capitalizing on social disorder and the

neoconservative objective of imposing social order (...). But the new militarism can also be

understood in terms of the forcible opening up of new horizons of profitable economic volatility,

a violent supplementing of market forces.” (Floyd, P. 207)

The comparison of Neoliberalism to The War on Terror seems accurate, given the

patterns of violence and stigmatization Queer people face from these institutions. While zoning

laws present a more upfront form of violence against Queer communities, Rosemary Hennessy

uses her book, “Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism” as a way to further
discuss instances of epistemic violence against sexually marginalized groups by advancing

antiheteronormative perspectives on neoliberalism.

The Commodification of Queerness and Dangers to Queer Social Life

Neoliberalism’s ability to commodify queerness has been presented as a contemporary

danger to queer social life. Rosemary Hennessy discusses this at length in her book, “Profit and

Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism.” Hennessy argues that visibility in commodity

culture is, in a sense, a limited victory for the queer community. This victory expands visibility

to queers as consumer subjects but excludes them from being recognized as social subjects. The

image of queerness presented by Neoliberalism and proliferated by consumer culture has an

essentializing effect, creating an imaginary “queer” subjectivity dependant entirely on class

ranking. This image can be consumed by both hetero and homo-normative groups, creating a

homogenous consolidation of queer identity. The very word “queer” is an act of resistance to this

limited view of the LGBTQ+ community and its politics. As stated by Hennessy,

“‘Queer’ often professes to define a critical standpoint that makes visible how

heteronormative attempts to fix sexual identities tend to fail because they are overdetermined by

other issues and conflicts” (Hennessy, P. 113)

This quote illustrates a need for more holistic terminology that moves past essentialized

terms created by Neoliberalism to enforce a gay/lesbian binary. The word Queer has become

virtually synonymous with post contemporary interpretations and analysis of “gay and lesbian”

studies. Hennessy calls for a restructuring of queer theory and terminology as a method to

critique exploitation, epistemic violence, and state or cultural powers that affect sexuality.
 Queer theory can provide unique and productive critiques on political theory as it relates

to Neoliberalism. This is exemplified best by Hennessy’s argument that,

“By targeting heteronormativity rather than heterosexuality, queer theory and activism also

acknowledge that heterosexuality is an institution that organizes more than just the sexual: it is

socially pervasive, underlying myriad taken-for-granted norms that shape what can be seen, said,

and valued. ” (Hennessy, P. 114)

By adopting terms that were once used to label sexually marginalized peoples as deviant,

a rebellion against the standardization of sexuality is formed. This frees sexually marginalized

groups from the pressure to either hide in submissive anonymity or admit to their apologetic

difference. Queer Politics are not aimed at assimilating queers into the culturally dominant, but

instead at providing antiheteronormative perspective on structures of power that continue to

affect queer communities.

Commodification committed by Neoliberal structures has been proven to give limited

victories to queer communities, but commodification’s effects aren't isolated to market exchange

and visibility. Commodification can affect the standards and normalization of different types of

knowledge, and dictate what and how we view them. Commodification and essentialization,

Hennessy argues,

“perpetuates a class-specific perspective that keeps invisible the capitalist divisions of

labor that organize sexuality and in particular lesbian, gay, queer lives.” (Hennessy, P.138)

Antiheteronormative perspectives can reveal these invisible, and often insidious,

capitalist divisions that continue to organize sexuality and its occupation in western thought.

Conclusion
 Neoliberalism is undoubtedly one of the biggest epistemic threats to not only sexually

marginalized communities but all minoritized groups. Its limitations and effects are only made

clearer when critiqued from an antiheteronormative perspective, as argued by the authors

previously discussed. To do so, the normalization of neoliberal conceptions of care and

standardization of concepts of sexuality and gender must be interrupted and reoriented. Further,

through an analysis of methodologies that seek to exclude questions of sexuality and its politics,

like Marxism, harmful conceptions and theories concerning sexuality can become evident and

refutable. In this way, Marxism from a more intersectional perspective can utilize and advance

its explanatory power while simultaneously critiquing its epistemic limitations. Similar to Joan

Tronto’s feminist critique of Neoliberalism, Queer theory calls for an abandonment of Neoliberal

organization and dominance of the world. A more intersectional approach and perspective

provide theoretical solutions that reflect more holistically upon the communities they seek to

represent. It is important to reify these abstract constructs, such as neoliberalism and queerness,

in a modern and accessible context, so that practical action can be taken in response to them.
Works Cited

Hennessy, Rosemary. (2018). ​Profit and Pleasure: Sexual Identities in Late Capitalism. New
York: Routledge, ​https://doi-org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/10.4324/9781315270142

Floyd, Kevin. ​The Reification of Desire : toward a Queer Marxism.​ University of Minnesota
Press, 2009.

Tronto, Joan. (2017). ​There is an alternative: homines curans and the limits of neoliberalism.
International Journal of Care and Caring. 1. 27-43. 10.1332/239788217X14866281687583.

Hall, Kim Q."Queer Epistemology and Epistemic Injustice," In ​The Routledge Handbook on
Epistemic Injustice,​ eds. Gaile Pohlhaus, Ian Kidd, and José Medina (Routledge, 2017).