Still in the Closet: Subject Headings for LGBTIQ Identities

K.R. RobertoApril 28, 2010

Perspective in Quote Form

“[T]he power relations that characterize any historically embedded society are never as transparently clear as the names we give to them imply.” *

*Gordon, Avery. Ghostly matters: haunting and the sociological

imagination.(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997)

A mercifully brief history of subject heading critiques

Foskett, A.C. “Misogynists All: A Study in Critical Classification.” Library Resources and Technical Services 15:2 (1971): 117-121.

Berman, Sanford. Prejudices and antipathies: a tract on the LC subject heads concerning people (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1971)

Obligatory SB reference

“[...] the LC list can only “satisfy” parochial, jingoistic Europeans and North Americans, white-hued, at least nominally Christian (and preferably Protestant) in faith, comfortably situated in the middle- and higher-income brackets, largely domiciled in suburbia, fundamentally loyal to the Established Order, and heavily imbued with the transcendent, incomparable glory of Western civilization.”*

*Berman, p. 3

Earliest research

Joan Marshall & Steve Wolf Sex and the Single Cataloger: New Thoughts

on Some Unthinkable Subjects (ALA Annual 1971, Dallas)

Marshall, Joan K. “LC Labeling: An Indictment.”

Wolf, Steve. “Sex and the Single Cataloger.”

Queer: (mostly) not a subject heading

Early 20th century: in-group term 1950s: Well-known slur 1980s-present:

Resistance to assimilative “lesbian and gay” language

Constantly shifting and challenging concepts of sexuality & gender

Queer LCSH

GaysCross-references:

Gay people Gay persons Homosexuals

At least it’s better than Perverts

Sexual minoritiesCross-references:

GLBT/GLBTQ/LGB/LGBT/LGBTQ/Lesbigay people

Non-heterosexual people Sexual dissidents

But wait!

Queer theory

Broader term: Gender identity?

With no queers in LCSH, what does Queer theory study?

Only authorizes “easy” identities

The last letter in the acronym

Transgender people

Narrower headings: Female/Male impersonators Transvestites Transsexuals

Drama Drag

Female impersonatorsScope note:

Here are entered works on men who impersonate women, generally for purposes of entertainment or comic effect. Works on women who impersonate men, generally for purposes of entertainment or comic effect, are entered under Male impersonators. Works on persons, especially males, who assume the dress and manner of the opposite sex for psychological gratification are entered under Transvestites.

Lip-sync for your life!

Drag and transgender overlap in real life, but not in LCSH

Artifice over intent drag performance less important

than “imitation” of gender

You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

Are all drag performances about “passing” for the gender being performed?

Just ask the Denver Cycle Sluts!

But wait (again)!

Drag balls Attended by Female (or Male)

impersonators? Transvestites?

“[...] gay men or lesbians dressed in clothing characteristic of the opposite sex”

From Gay to Same-sex

Library of CongressAcquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate Policy

and Standards DivisionSummary of Decisions, Editorial Meeting Number 13March 31, 2010Subject headings > Other decisions

Same-sex parents:The heading Gay parents already exists in LCSH, so the

proposed UF Gay parents is in direct conflict with that heading. The meeting decided to change the existing heading Gay parents to Same-sex parents. The proposal was not approved.

Parents--Case studies

Gay parents and same-sex parents aren’t the same thing:

• Co-parenting arrangements between lesbians and gay men

Wrapping up on a positive note

Examples of headings where LC gets it right:

Bears (Gay culture) Gay men/Lesbians/Bisexuals--Relations

with heterosexuals Handkerchief codes Internalized homophobia Intersex people Leather lifestyle Lesbian vampires

Taxonomies beyond LCSH

Archives in London and the M25 area

International Homo/Lesbian Informationcenter and Archives (IHLIA)

Obligatory Judith Butler quote

“Gender, understood as one way of culturally configuring a body, is open to a continual remaking, and that “anatomy” and “sex” are not without cultural framing.”

Thank you!