Disease and uncleanliness are universal issues that have existed in every culture
throughout human history. Although we often view the previous generations as being
unaware or ignorant of health issues, they were still deeply concerned about their
health (For more about historical health I highly recommend Medieval Bodies by Jack
Harnell). However, creating clean healthy spaces is not just about picking trash oD the
street, it is about creating an image. What we see from this is that cleanliness and
uncleanliness become attributes given to groups of people, not just behaviour.
In the modern period in Europe and America, there is a division between clean white
upper- and middle- class bodies and unclean poor coloured bodies. This is deeply
connected to ideas of morality and pureness, which is really just a symptom of racism
and classism. For example, sanitation programs in the late 19th century and early 20th
century in the United States of America were in part put in place to create desirable
spaces for white middle- and upper-class people, which often included kicking the
working class and immigrants out of “alleys” as they were often called.
This idea of clean vs unclean bodies can also be applied to the socially constructed
contrast between pure cis bodies and defective trans and queer bodies. Queer bodies
and identities have historically been labelled as “deviant identities”, which creates a
clear distinction between “us” and “them”; “normal” bodies vs “unnatural” bodies.
Serano argues in her text about detransition bias that the general population views cis
bodies as “natural and pure” compared to trans bodies that they view as “artificial,
defective and/or corrupted.” This creates a moral hierarchy of cleanliness in which cis
people may try to “clean” the trans body from its transness, by for example hindering
gender aDirmative care.
Homosexuality has since the early 1800s been seen as a medical phenomenon or a
mental illness. Being queer also has negative connotations within many religions, as for
a very long time (and still to this day), it is seen as a sin and/or moral failure. Whether it
be an illness or the devil, the queer body needed to be cleansed from it. This manifested
in various forms of conversion therapy such as shock treatment or “praying the gay
away.”
Being labelled as “dirty” has a negative impact on the individual and their understanding
of themselves. One can keep trying to clean or cure the queerness away, but ultimately
it will fail, because the body was never dirty or sick in the first place. However, when
society tells you that your body is “sick,” it can make you feel like you are the one doing
something wrong; you are not good enough at curing yourself.
Cleansing happens on social scales as well. S. Lamble argues in their chapter in
Captive Genders that quality-of-life ordinances are used to “remove queer and trans
youth from public places and criminalize their social activities.” Ordinances like these
are really in place to create spaces that are desirable for the white upper- and middle-
class, similar to the sanitation campaigns I discussed in the beginning of this text.
Pathologized language is a highly instrumental tool for politicians to control the
narrative, as the general public automatically sees sickness as a threat and enemy. This
can make us believe that politicians want the best for us, while ignoring the deeper
agenda behind it, which is often one of white upper-class superiority. People in power
ascribe sexual deviancy to enforce social norms around race, class and ability. This is
not a single-issue problem, but a highly connected network of oppression that is
designed to maintain the status-quo.
This is why I implore you to be mindful of the language people in power use to discuss
queer bodies. See how disease is used to invoke fear in the public. Look for how this is
connected to racism, classism and ableism. Fight against the population control that
politicians label as disease control.
The Walking with Pride Project 