Elektra Pose

Disrupting Dignity

Why LGBTQ+ people must resist the seduction of dignity In 2015, when the Supreme Court declared that gay and lesbian couples were entitled to the “equal dignity” of marriage recognition, the concept of dignity became a cornerstone for gay rights victories. In Disrupting Dignity, Stephen M. Engel and Timothy S. Lyle explore the darker side of dignity, tracing its invocation across public health politics, popular culture, and law from the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis to our current moment. With a compassionate eye, Engel and Lyle detail how politicians, policymakers, media leaders, and even some within LGBTQ+ communities have used the concept of dignity to shame and disempower members of those communities. They convincingly show how dignity—and the subsequent chase to be defined by its terms—became a tool of the state and the marketplace thereby limiting its more radical potential. Ultimately, Engel and Lyle challenge our understanding of dignity as an unquestioned good. They expose the constraining work it accomplishes and the exclusionary ideas about respectability that it promotes. To restore a lost past and point to a more inclusive future, they assert the worthiness of queer lives beyond dignity’s limits.

Shifting Gender Identities in Popular Culture

From films, television shows, and young adult literature to beauty pageants, stand-up comedy, and role-playing games, pop culture influences our views of gender. This collection of 12 essays brings together a diverse selection of scholars to examine how various groups are represented in these narratives. A mirror that allows us to see who and what we are, pop culture also has, in John Podhoretz's words, the "ability to alter, destroy, or praise" how we see and define ourselves, and shapes how we understand our own and others' actions, values, and beliefs. These essays investigate the ways in which popular culture helps us understand the rapid and often dramatic societal changes occurring around gender roles and identity. They address the question of truth in representation of women and gender minorities, highlighting the tension between the best and the worst that popular culture can offer to these debates.

Elektra