User:ShelbyJackson/final article

Recommendations for revising the article 'Queer ecology'
Written revisions in  big bold font 


 * Add an image (Rainbow over forest in Alaska) for interest. (Put at beginning of WikiArticle or next to 'overview' section?)
 * Add template 'LGBT sidebar' (LGBT topics: Academic fields and discourse).
 * Written section on Jonathan Gray writings about 'OUT for Sustainability' organization in 'Heterosexism and the environment'.
 * 'Born This Way Foundation' image, information, and links.
 * Website link to OUT for Sustainability.
 * Add Cat lady WikiArticle link to "crazy cat lady" in the 'Queer ecology and human society' section because the Cat lady article mentions lesbians reclaiming cat lady cultural archetype.
 * Add an example of how feminist economics and women's societal expectations of reproduction/childcare are historically tied to queer ecology  in 'Queer ecology and human society. 
 *  Include a modern critique of queer women being outcasted from maternity and   intersectional identities (queer/lesbian/Nigerian immigrant) in 'Queer ecology and human society'. 
 *  Written section on Anti-LGBTQ+ religious homophobic bias in interpretations of Darwin's Theory of Sexual Selection in 'Reimagining scientific perspective'.  Note: Already edited Queer ecology WikiArticle during previous WikiAssignment
 * Add LGBT, Queer, Queer studies, Gender binary, Feminist movements and ideologies, Feminist economics, Environmental sociology, Catriona Sandilands, and Chinelo Okparanta WikArticles to See also section.
 * Add LGBT, Queer, Queer studies, Gender binary, Feminist movements and ideologies, Feminist economics, Environmental sociology, Catriona Sandilands, and Chinelo Okparanta WikArticles to See also section.

Copied content from Queer ecology: see that page's history for attribution.

(Not my original content unless in bold font below.)

Heterosexism and the environment
Queer ecology recognizes that people often associate heterosexuality with the idea of “natural,” in contrast to, for example, homosexuality, which people associate with “unnatural.” These expectations of sexuality and nature often influence scientific studies of non-human wildlife. The natural world often defies the heteronormative notions held by scientists, helping humans to redefine our cultural understanding of what is “natural” and also how we “queer” environmental spaces. For example, in “The Feminist Plant: Changing Relations with the Water Lily”, Prudence Gibson and Monica Gagliano explain how the water lily defies heterosexist notions. They argue that because the water lily is so much more than its reputation as a “pure” or “feminine” plant, we need to reevaluate our understandings of plants and acknowledge the connection between plant biology and models for cultural practice through a feminist lens.

'''Jonathan Gray talks about the need for LGBTQ+ identifying environmentalism groups such as OUT for Sustainability. Heteronormative notions falsely assert that the environment is "too natural" and LGBTQ+ people are "unnatural". False dualisms of treating humanity as if they can't be a part of nature have already been reclaimed in the common LGBTQ+ slogan "born this way"; Therefore it makes sense for the LGBTQ+ community to be involved in environmental advocacy.'''.

Queer ecology and human society
Queer ecology is also relevant when considering human geography. For example, Catriona Sandilands considers lesbian separatist communities in Oregon as a specific manifestation of queer ecology. Marginalized communities, according to Sandilands, create new cultures of nature against dominant ecological relations. Environmental issues are closely linked to social relations that include sexuality, and so a strong alliance exists between queer politics and environmental politics. “Queer geography” calls attention to the spatial organization of sexuality, which implicates issues of access to natural spaces, and the sexualization of these spaces. This implies that unique ecological relationships arise from these sexuality-based experiences. Furthermore, queer ecology disrupts the association of nature with sexuality. Matthew Gandy proposes that urban parks, for example, are heteronormative because they reflect hierarchies of property and ownership. “Queer,” in the case of urban nature, refers to spatial difference and marginalization, beyond sexuality.

Queer ecology is also important within individual households. As a space influenced by society, the home is often an ecology that perpetuates heteronormativity. Will McKeithen examines queer ecology in the home by considering the implications of the label “crazy cat lady.” Because the “crazy cat lady” often defies societal heterosexist expectations for the home, as she, instead of having a romantic, male, human partner, treats animals as legitimate companions. This rejection of heteropatriarchal norms and acceptance of multispecies intimacy makes the home into a queer ecology.

Queer ecology also works its way into feminist economics, which are centered at childcare and reproduction. Anti-capitalist feminists use queer ecology to disentangle the gender binary, including the ties between the female body’s reproductive potential and the responsibility of social reproduction and childcare. Historically, queer women rebelled against societal expectations of reproduction being "the natural purpose of women's bodies" by acting in ways that society thought of as "unnatural". Today, we see critiques of queer women being outcasted from maternity such as in Okparanta's book of short stories, 'Happiness, Like Water'.

'''Chinelo Okparanta write's a short story called 'America' which shows how societal expectations vary between two different countries as it relates to LGBTQ+ maternity. The story shows how fictional character Nnenna's intersectional identities of being a queer, lesbian, and Black Nigerian immigrant in the U.S. combine to create a different experience. Her Nigerian mother doesn't treat her daughter's lesbian identity as "sinful" like the discrimination tied to religion in the U.S., but Nnenna still faces discrimination. Her mother treats her as if she's confused, saying "[a] woman and a woman cannot bear children". Nnenna's mother questions if her lesbian partner is stopping her from finding a husband. Her father encourages her and her partner to immigrate to the U.S., deciding it will be a safe place with "[n]o husband, no children". Once Nnenna is in the U.S. studying environmental engineering, she reflects on issues such as Black children in the U.S. being exposed to negative environmental impacts such as oil spills in community rivers.'''

Reimagining scientific perspectives
In disciplines of the natural sciences like evolutionary biology and ecology, queer ecology allows scholars to reimagine cultural binaries that exist between “natural and unnatural” and “living and non-living.”

Timothy Morton proposes that biology and ecology deconstruct notions of authenticity. Specifically, he proposes that life exists as a “mesh of interrelations” that blurs traditional scientific boundaries, like species, living and nonliving, human and nonhuman, and even between an organism and its environment. Queer ecology, according to Morton, emphasizes a perspective on life that transcends dualisms and distinctive boundaries, instead recognizing that unique relationships exist between life forms at different scales. Queer ecology nuances traditional evolutionary perspectives on sexuality, regarding heterosexuality as impractical at many scales and as a “late” evolutionary development.

Other scholars challenge the contrast that exists between “human” and “non-human” classifications, proposing that the idea of “fluidity” from queer theory should also extend to the relationship between humans and the environment.

'''Darwin's theory of sexual selection has received criticism when cross-examined with new data. Darwin’s idea that males compete for females in bird species has been disproven by data showing rare surplus of males causes aggressive male competition for females. Homophobic religious groups justify their anti-LGBTQ+ bias using Darwinian theories that homosexuality will lead to human extinction. ''' Roughgarden argues that Darwin’s theory of sexual selection is false, claiming that “diversity reveals the evolutionary stability and biological importance of expressions of gender and sexuality that go far beyond the traditional male/female binary.”