Queer: A Graphic History

Activist-academic Meg John Barker and cartoonist Julia Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel. A kaleidoscope of characters from the diverse worlds of pop-culture, film, activism and academia guide us on a journey through the ideas, people and events that have shaped ‘queer theory’.

From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged.

Along the way we look at key landmarks which shift our perspective of what’s ‘normal’, such as Alfred Kinsey’s view of sexuality as a spectrum between heterosexuality and homosexuality, Judith Butler’s view of gendered behavior as a performance, the play Wicked, which reinterprets characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, or moments in Casino Royale when we’re invited to view James Bond with the kind of desiring gaze usually directed at female bodies in mainstream media.

Dr. Meg-John Barker is a writer, therapist, and activist-academic specializing in sex, gender and relationships. Meg John is a senior lecturer in psychology at the Open University and a UKCP accredited psychotherapist, and has over a decade of experience researching and publishing on these topics including non-monogamous relationships, kink, counseling, and mindfulness, as well as co-editing the journal Psychology & Sexuality. They were the lead author of The Bisexuality Report and they are involved in running many public events on sexuality and relationships, including Sense about Sex, Critical Sexology, and Gender & Sexuality Talks. Meg-John is a UKCP accredited therapist working with gender and sexually diverse clients. In addition to their many academic books, they have now written several books for the general public including Rewriting the Rules (Routledge, 2013), The Secrets of Enduring Love (Penguin RandomHouse, forthcoming 2016), and Enjoy Sex (Icon Books, forthcoming 2017). They are frequently mentioned in the media, and they blog about sex and relationships on Rewriting-the-rules.com. Twitter: @megjohnbarker.

Julia Scheele is an illustrator, graphic facilitator and comic book artist. She runs One Beat Zines, a feminist zine collective and distributor.