‘HAPPY’ AND ‘UNHAPPY’ PERFORMATIVES

Abstract

As a cultural and societal system with a hegemonic status, heterosexuality is often represented and imagined as not only normal and ideal but also as fixed and monolithic. There are, however, possibilities for queering heterosexuality from within. This paper considers the ways in which heterosexuality is made into a norm through reiterative visual performatives, but also the ways in which normative heterosexuality is challenged. It is my aim to show that ostensible ‘wrongdoings’, forms of ‘unhappiness’, or ‘infelicities’ within heterosexuality may very well form viable performatives of gender and sexuality.

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