Since the 1960s, queer people have become increasingly visible in the media. Queer identities in community life and politics may rely in the 21st century on the prevailing media landscape. The paradoxes of visibility are many: spurring tolerance through harmful stereotyping, diminishing isolation at the cost of activism, trading assimilation for equality, converting radicalism into a market niche. A series of colloquia and a day-long symposium will explore visibility and its discontents.
March 12. Pop Out World: Popular Media & Queer Identity. Fridays, 1-4 p.m., Institute for the Humanities, 701 S. Morgan Street, Lower level, Stevenson Hall, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Ill., 60607.
Symposium April 2. Media/Queered: Visibility and its Discontents, includes Studs Terkel. Call Linda Vavra (312) 996-6352, fax 312.996.2938, e-mail lvavra@uic.edu or visit www.uic.edu/~kgbcomm/mq.
