How does queer temporal experience resist linear, teleological, and hierarchical assumptions about moral development?
The word "queer" has been used to describe experiences that fall outside of normative understandings of gender and sexuality since at least the early 1980s. These experiences often challenge traditional conceptions of time and temporality, which are deeply rooted in Western cultures and their patriarchal belief systems. Queer temporalities disrupt dominant narratives of progress and progression and reorient our understanding of time towards more relational and nonlinear ways of being. This paper will explore how queer temporalities challenge our assumptions about morality by examining four key concepts related to time and morality: causality, telos, hierarchy, and development. We will also discuss how these concepts can be applied to the field of sex education, which is typically focused on teaching students to move through stages of learning and maturation towards an idealized goal or end point.
We will consider how the study of queer temporalities can inform our pedagogies for teaching sex education and create space for multiple forms of knowledge production within the classroom.
Causality refers to the idea that there is a relationship between cause and effect, where one event causes another to occur. In Western culture, this relationship is usually conceived as linear, meaning that each event follows logically from the previous one.
If you eat a healthy breakfast, you may have more energy later in the day. If you do not brush your teeth every morning, your breath will smell bad. In this way, we tend to think about time as consisting of discrete events that follow each other like links in a chain.
When it comes to sex and sexuality, this linear model falls short because our desires and needs change over time.
A person may have a strong desire for casual sex at one stage of life but then find themselves wanting to settle down into a committed relationship at another stage. Queer temporalties resist this linear notion of causality by emphasizing instead the complexity and interconnection of events, rather than their sequential nature. This approach encourages us to see all moments as connected, with no one moment being more important than any other. Rather than seeing them as separate and distinct, queer temporalties view events as part of a continuous whole. As such, they challenge the idea that certain behaviors are immoral simply because they happen earlier or later in life.
Telos is Greek for "end" or "goal," and it refers to the idea that everything has an end point towards which it strives. In moral terms, telos often describes a goal or ideal state towards which humans should aim to move.
In Plato's Republic, he argues that justice is the highest good and that all people should strive towards it. In Western culture, teleological thinking tends to privilege certain ways of being over others, with morally acceptable behaviors seen as leading towards a higher goal while immoral ones are seen as deviating from this path. Within the context of sex education, we might expect students to progress through stages of learning about different forms of sexual behavior until they reach an ultimate goal (such as abstinence).
Queer temporalities disrupt this understanding by suggesting that there is no final destination or endpoint towards which everyone must move. Instead, individuals may experience multiple stages throughout their lives and return to them again and again. They also reject the idea that there is a single correct way to have sex or engage in relationships. Queer temporalties thus resist hierarchical assumptions about how to structure our classrooms and curricula around morality.
Hierarchy involves ranking one thing above another based on its perceived worthiness. When applied to time, hierarchy suggests that some moments are more important than others, while some events lead to better outcomes than others. In Western cultures, this concept has been used to justify patriarchal systems in which men are seen as superior to women and heterosexuality is considered more natural than homosexuality. This hierarchical view of time privileges certain modes of being over others, implying that certain sexual practices are more moral than others.
Traditional sex education often emphasizes heteronormative practices such as monogamy and lifelong commitment as the ideal form of sexual relationship. But queer temporalities challenge these hierarchies by suggesting that all experiences are valid and deserving of respect. Rather than seeing some people as "better" or "worse," we should focus on creating space for multiple forms of expression within the classroom. We can do this by providing opportunities for students to explore different forms of intimacy and discuss what works best for them personally rather than imposing our own values upon them.
Development refers to the process of growing and changing over time. In Western culture, development tends to be seen as progressive, with individuals moving from childhood through adolescence towards adulthood.
This idea assumes a linear progression from immature to mature behavior, with only one path leading towards maturation. Queer temporalities reject this assumption by instead stressing that individuals may move back and forth between different stages throughout their lives. They also suggest that there is no one correct way to develop morally, as each person's experience is unique. By recognizing the complexity of human development, queer temporalties allow us to reconsider how we teach sex education in the classroom. Instead of focusing solely on teaching students how to become adults, we might consider providing opportunities for them to engage with a variety of sexual behaviors at different ages and stages of life. This approach would help students make informed decisions about which types of relationships work best for them and encourage them to take responsibility for their choices.
Queer temporalties offer an alternative way of thinking about time that
How does queer temporal experience resist linear, teleological, and hierarchical assumptions about moral development?
Queer temporal experiences are often characterized by nonlinearity, circularity, and disruption of chronology. This can be understood as a resistance to dominant cultural narratives that place a premium on progress and evolution, which are rooted in heteronormative and patriarchal values.