towards a queer literary history of gender identity: steampunk, gender nonconformity, &...

TOWARDS A QUEER LITERARY HISTORY OF

GENDER IDENTITYSTEAMPUNK, GENDER

NONCONFORMITY, & VICTORIAN STUDIES

Lisa Hager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager || http://bit.ly/hager1023

Pronouns: she, her, hers or they, them, theirs

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

A cyborg is a cybernetic organism,

a hybrid of machine and organism,

a creature of social reality as well

as

a creature of fiction.

Donna J. Haraway, Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature.

New York: Routledge, 1991.

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

Steampunk seeks to find a

relationship with the world of

gears, steel, and steam that

allows machines to not only co-

inhabit our world but to be

partners in our journey. To be

born, age, and die like we all

must, that is not only true of

humans, plants, rivers,

animals but also of machines.

This may be a crucial

realignment of our

relationship to the world, man-

made and natural.

(emphasis added)

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

Her airman’s uniform was miles

better than any girls’ clothes.

The boots clomped gloriously as

she stormed to signals practice

or firefighting drills, and the

jacket had a dozen pockets,

including special compartments

for her command whistle and

rigging knife. And Deryn didn’t

mind the constant practice in

useful skills like knife throwing,

swearing, and not showing pain

when punched.

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

female masculinity actually affords us a

glimpse of how masculinity is

constructed as masculinity. In other

words, female masculinities are framed

as the rejected scraps of dominant

masculinity in order that male

masculinity may appear to be the real

thing

J. Jack Halberstam, Female Masculinity. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998.lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

For a moment, he wondered at all the

adjustments, small and large, that Deryn

must have made in order to carry off her

deception. The way she walked, talked, and

stood, along with every social nuance, all of it

had to be considered every second of every

day. It was incredible to have succeeded at

something so difficult . . . . Not that he

minded seeing her in a jacket and trousers

every day. It was part of the frisson of their

romance.lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

Deryn was in the sort of evening

dress that fashionable young

women-about-town wore . . . Alek

looked down at his own dress, so

formal and old-fashioned with its

fussy bows and bustle. He

suddenly felt frumpy, whereas

Deryn was positively stylish. Her

short hair and slim figure, the core

of her disguise as a midshipman,

no longer looked masculine at all.

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || she, her, hers or they, them, theirs || @lmhager

Lisa Hager

lisa.hager@uwc.edu || @lmhager

she, her, hers or they, them, theirs

http://bit.ly/hager1023