Reading Notes: Stone Butch Blues, key words- sex and queer, and valentine

A lot of the oppression and hatred that Jess feels in Stone Butch Blues are cause by "hot" words such a sex and queer. She is a Butch so she dresses like a man. Throughout the book the issue of which bathroom to use causes her a lot of pain and suffering because of the ridicule of others. This ridicule seems to stem from misunderstanding of the "linguistic tools which extract certain information, experiences, and feelings about ourselves and others from the stream of daily life for the purposes of making meaning about, and representing ourselves and others"(Valentine p.31). Another interesting point about the language of "not straight" is included in Keywords -Queer. "'queer' is sometimes used interchangably with the terms gay and lesbian and sometimes transgender and bisexual." Valentine also talks about reclaiming certain words for their correct meaning. Once notices that the most of the time that the girls are treated horribly is in the police station after they are busted at the bars. The police men rape, beat and humiliate the women because they are afraid of what will happen to their heterosexuality if women are then allowed to portray male qualities.