Review: Lane, Jennifer. “Using Queer Phenomenology to Disrupt Heteronormativity and Deconstruct Homosexuality.” Journal of Homosexuality, 2020, pp. 1-20.

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is the first paragraph of the review:

In her article ‘Using Queer Phenomenology to Disrupt Heteronormativity and Deconstruct Homosexuality’ (2020), Jennifer Lane traces the legacy of the pathologization of “homosexuality” as a “mental disorder” (6). Until 1973, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) contained homosexuality, contributing to the equation of non-heterosexual identities with “abnormality” (6). Lane calls attention to mental health disparities between 2SLGBTQ-identifying persons and heterosexual persons and argues that this is perpetuated by the legacy of pathologizing homosexuality. Although homosexuality has been removed from the DSM, stigma pervades. Using Sara Ahmed’s queer phenomenology, Lane uncovers the continued ubiquity of heteronormativity as it works in tandem with stigma and its effects on those with 2SLGBTQ identities. Queer phenomenology and its surrounding discourse attends to embodied realities in a heteronormative world and how deviation from these norms can result in violence (Ahmed 160). Lane extends this discussion by situating queer phenomenological frameworks within the health care institution. Furthermore, she argues that the “closet” is a heteronormative tool used to police and punish non-normative identities, ensuring that 2SLGBTQ-identified persons are “kept in line” through violence and stigma upon coming “out of the closet” (8). Thus, Lane is attending to how individuals who may not be ‘out’ also feel the embodied effects of stigma surrounding 2SLGBTQ identities including internalized queerphobia. Experiences of witnessing harm to other 2SLGBTQ-identified persons, the reality of what she terms “a priori homophobia,” can result in the need to hide nonnormative sexual and gender identities as an adaptive response (10). Lane calls for health care providers to acknowledge that most health care settings are institutions that continue to perpetuate heteronormativity and stigma surrounding 2SLGBTQ identities. She suggests that health care providers should use “strategies that center the experiences of patients” (15) and recognize that all 2SLGBTQ patients have a history of accumulated harms.