Femme Fem(me)ininities: A Performative Queering

by Douglas, Erin Joan

Throughout my thesis I explore alternative fem(me)ininities. Such femmes re-signify femininity by means of disidentification and parody and in turn trouble notions of authenticity. Queer fem(me)inities critique heteronormative conceptions of femininity and sexuality. The texts and theories that I use to inform my theoretical framework of fem(me)ininities are: beside in Eve Kosofsky’s Touching Feeling, Judith Halberstam’s theories of minority femininities and masculinities in Female Masculinity, disidetification in Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues, queer parody in Mabel Maney’s Kiss the Girls and Make Them Spy, S/M in Sarah Water’s Tipping the Velvet, and the troubling of authenticity in Showtime’s television series The L Word. This project is an exploration of alternative gender and sexuality performances. The queer theoretical frameworks from Judith Butler, Judith Halberstam, José Esteban Muñoz, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Ann Cvetkovich have been integral to my theory of femme fem(me)ininities.