Marco LomazzoQueer TheoryPaper Proposal

For my paper I would like to focus on Michel Foucault's text The History of Sexuality and specifically Ken Corbetts chapter Faggot= Loser:Phallic Narcissism. What I would like to focus on are the power dynamics regarding sexuality that Foucault focuses on while comparing his theory to Corbetts idea of Faggot being used as a word that disempowers boys and men in an attempt to strip away their masculinity. I would like to analyze in depth the historical context that Foucault provides in his text when speaking of the history behind sexuality and how it was used to suppress people who fell outside of the socially constructed norm. In my paper I would like to pull Corbetts ideas on the word Faggot and relate it to how present day sexual relations are still regulated and suppressed i.e. calling boys a faggot if they fail to live up to the societal ideals of masculinity and how that then affects gay boys and men as they grow up and how it may affect their relationships and aggression towards people they interact with. Im not entirely sure what my thesis will be and I am still trying to figure it out so that it is comprehensive enough to write a good paper about. I will focus mainly on the first chapter we read from Foucault and then Chapter 5 of the Corbett text.

Hi Marco,It seems like the core of what you want to talk about in this paper concerns the Corbett text, i.e. you want to develop further his exploration of how sexuality is regulated through words like faggot. What youll want to make explicit when you write the paper is precisely how Foucault can better help us understand this kind of regulation beyond what Corbett gives us. In other words, youll want to be sure to justify your use of Foucault to the reader. My suggestion is this: it seems like Foucaults theory would be helpful to you because it provides a way of thinking about how the language and discourse that we use to define sexual identities (e.g. words like faggot) exert power over people. That is, whats interesting about Foucault is that he gives us the tools for thinking about how were affected by the language that we have used and that is used against us in defining our identities. Going back and examining how Foucault thinks the language for talking about sexuality is determined by power would be helpful.

You mention here that youre still trying to figure out thesis, which is totally fine for this stage. However, I wanted to mention that you should feel free to stop by my office hours or set up an appointment if you want to tlak through this idea more. r

Grade: 2/2.5 (I needed to reduce the grade partially because this was late)