"United by Prejudice". Considerations from a Queer Point of View Based on a Hermes Project Experience

Abstract

This paper reports some thoughts  about homophobic and transphobic practices in a Queer framework. Departing from a training experience carried out within the European project Hermes – Linking network to fight sexual and gender stigma and addressed to first responders who deal with gender violence and homophobic and transphobic discriminations, some considerations about the meaning of these practices are developed. Homophobia and transphobia, indeed, are discursive and political practices coming from powerful and pervasive heterosexist matrix. As power and social subjection device, these practices are particularly insidious and subtle, so that they  slightly strike even those who try to prevent or oppose them. From Foucault to Butler, passing through works by De Lauretis, Sedgwick and Norton, the authors try to demonstrate that these practices are a very dangerous attempt to repress Queer expressions.

Keywords: Sexual and gender stigma, power devices, workshop, homophobia, transphobia.