Customer Reviews

Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability (Cultural Front)

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I read this about a year ago. It has taken me this long to digest and appreciate this intriguing book. When I first started to talk about it with older gay men, the reaction was visceral anger. Naturally, homosexual men have struggled against being classified as pathological, celebrating the elimination of homosexuality as a disorder from the psychiatrist's catalogue of pathologies. Some see it as a step backwards from the march toward assimilation, a goal which I do not share.

Yet, there has to be a realistic discussion about seropositivity and the struggles of those who likewise seek access but are barred for other 'disabilities.' Further, there are parallels to be found in class struggle, particularly the need in the U.S. for a national health plan, employment, housing, and the whole lot of things for which people are seeking 'access.'

The author here claims 'crip' in the same way that some claim 'queer.' They are labels applied to segregate out and strip people from access to the very things needed for survival. There is simply too much in common between the various and numerous abject peoples not to notice. Not least, the way in which those terms can be turned around, claimed, and used to resist.

This having been said, I am doubtful how much can be achieved in a classroom. As the old saying went: class consciousness is knowing which side you are on; class struggle is knowing who is there with you. This is a step toward recognizing allies.