“It Helps if I Don’t Come Across as the Intersex Person but as the Regular Guy”. LGBTIQ* Movements, Credibility, and Mis-Fitting in Knowledge Spaces in Austria

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2025.328

Keywords:

Agency, Knowledge, LGBTIQ, Performativity, Social Movements

Abstract

Knowledge spaces as diverse as universities, parliaments, and activist organisations are fraught with difficulty for those who do not easily “fit” into them. They are governed by discursive, behavioural, somatic, and material norms concerning who does or does not belong in them as well as which/whose knowledges are or are not to be considered
credible. Thus, members of minoritised groups often have to negotiate their presence in hostile knowledge spaces in ways that go beyond abstract epistemological  considerations. In this paper, I discuss how LGBTIQ* activists and academics in Austria navigate knowledge spaces that may treat them as “space invaders”. Based on semi-structured interviews, I explore how participants may seek to de-emphasise or emphasise their mis-fit regarding the spaces they traverse. I examine examples of how such attempts may either not work in the first place or backfire
in unintended ways, and their connections to wider societal norms and intersectional exclusions.

Author Biography

Boka En, University of Vienna

Boka En (they/them) has been teaching Gender and Queer Studies at various universities in Austria since 2015 and currently works at the Gender Research Office at the University of Vienna. They are a founding member of the working group Inter*Trans_Nonbinary in the Austrian Gender Studies Association and their work includes topics such as intimacies/sexualities/relationships, LGBTIQ* movements, knowledge politics, and the im-/possibilities of emancipatory learning spaces. Boka’s website can be found at https://bokaen.com/en.

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Published

2025-02-11

How to Cite

En, B. (2025). “It Helps if I Don’t Come Across as the Intersex Person but as the Regular Guy”. LGBTIQ* Movements, Credibility, and Mis-Fitting in Knowledge Spaces in Austria. Open Gender Journal, 9. https://doi.org/10.17169/ogj.2025.328

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