e-mail: Steven.Bruhm@msvu.ca

Since the Stonewall Resistance Riots of 1969, gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals have sought to inscribe their experiences openly in various forms of culture. Of particular importance to this representation is the world of adolescence, most often the site of "coming out." Yet, adolescent coming out suggests the existence of childhood sexuality, a sexual knowledge that has made our culture extremely uncomfortable. This course will consider the problematic status of childhood sexuality in works created by, intended for, or taken up within queer audiences. We will look at strategies that queer creators have used to represent the complex world of youth and its relation to gay and lesbian identity. In particular, we will consider the function of camp, how it marks a particularly queer aesthetic, and how it intersects with what is usually thought of as "children’s culture." Please be warned: this course is neither a self-help session nor curriculum development; rather, it interrogates the ways in which culture tries to articulate the queerness of childhood experience. And there's a lot of sex and bad language here too, so you've been warned.

 As is always the case at this university, correct use of language is one of the criteria included in the evaluation of all written assignments.