Negotiating safety. Literary and cinematic stagings of tensions and conflicts in queer spaces since 1900 (Wien/Vienne)

Negotiating safety. Literary and cinematic stagings of tensions and conflicts in queer spaces since 1900

26.-28.11.2025, University of Vienna

Analog and digital spaces are anything but neutral. Political, economic, social, cultural and media norms intersect in them. Visible and invisible boundaries run through them, producing inclusions and exclusions and thus modeling hierarchies. They are subject to specific rights of ownership, access and use that are institutionally controlled. In this respect, spaces are interwoven with values and are always situated in relation to the centers of power. In relation to questions of gender and sexuality, separate toilets, changing rooms or saunas for ‘women’ and ‘men’ are an expression of the standardization and essentialist, binary differentiation. In patriarchal societies, queer people in particular face an increased risk of physical and/or verbal assault in ‘public’ places such as bars, clubs, public transport, and also on the internet. But even the ‘private’ space does not guarantee the existence of a “safe space” for all individuals: women[1] and queer people[2] are often exposed to psychological and/or physical violence in their own homes, as thematized for example in Lauren Delphe’s Faite de cyprine et de punaises (2022), in Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House (2019) or Erika Nomeni’s L’Amour de nous-mêmes (2023).

At the same time, concepts such as the division into ‘private’ and ‘public’ are also controversial[3]. After all, having a ‘private’ space is already a privilege – as the comparatively higher number of queer young people without shelter shows[4], as only one example. The categorization of things and actions that are assigned to ‘private’ or “public” space is also often less obvious for queer people. For example, questions of queer sexuality, gender and intimacy have been and continue to be discussed politically. Queer intimacy and identity attract (negative) attention whenever they come to light as such in the patriarchal society, dragging them from ‘private’ to the ‘public’ and thus making the distinction appear blurred.[5]

In order to prevent queer people from being pushed back into the ‘private’ sphere, there have been repeated initiatives in recent years to create ‘safe spaces’, for example in the form of gay, lesbian and queer bars, queer political networking spaces, transfeminist sports clubs or internet forums and social media presences. For queer and transfeminist interest groups, the issue of social visibility is a central concern. They create a platform for the manifestation of agency through impressive celebrations and protests in public places (such as during Pride Week). In podcasts, blogs and on social media, they create space for identitarian expression and thereby generate counter-publics, among other things.[6] They use the fact that cultural spaces are not always clearly contoured, but that there are liminal spheres, transitional zones and fluid spaces in everyday life that allow for indecision, permeability and undefinedness, to evade established attributions and regulations. 

Fictions in particular play an important role in the creation of queer spaces, as they have the potential to reflect on and criticize cultural spaces and create alternative and utopian areas. Literary and cinematic imaginations of alternative realities that offer queer lives marked by freedom and safety have been emerging since at least the beginning of the 20th century: In her novel Une femme m’apparut from 1904/1905, Renée Vivien describes a space of lesbian women that appears to function independently of patriarchal logics, just as in Céline Sciamma’s movie Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019). Other examples of imagining queer spaces are the movie 120 BPM (2017) by Robin Campillo as well as the novel Feral (2022) by Gabriela Jauregui, which show alternative ways of establishing community ties, circuits of affection, care and solidarity that offer new codes and languages of micro-political subjectivation. The same applies for example in Sophie Pointurier’s novel, Femme portant un fusil (2023) or in Wendy Delorme’s dystopia Viendra le temps du feu (2021). In the movie Blue Jean (Georgia Oakley, 2022) or the TV show A League of Their Own (Will Graham, Abbi Jacobson, 2022), lesbian and queer bars play an important role in the construction of lesbian identities. Ideas and narratives such as these are vital in times when queer realities are increasingly marginalized and under threat. They offer possibilities for imagining spaces and connections in which queerness can be safely lived and experienced.

But even within these imaginations and so-called ‘safe spaces’ there are exclusions, tensions and hierarchies: Queer spaces also need people who look after them and physically maintain them, but their work is often made invisible or taken for granted. In addition, queer spaces are often predominantly white and therefore a ‘safe space’ for white people in particular, but not always for BIPOC[7], as shown in Fatima Daas’ novel, La Petite dernière (2020). Many queer spaces, such as cafes and bars, have a ‘consumerist’ or cis-male bias, which in turn can mean the exclusion of cisgender women, low-income and/or trans*, intersex and non-binary people. How is this topic dealt with in literature and film and which inspirations, possibilities for action and perspectives do these portrayals offer? 

After queer temporalities have increasingly become the focus of research in recent years, also in literary and cultural studies (particularly under the influence of José Esteban Muñoz’ Cruising Utopia (2009), Lee Edelman’s No Future (2004) and Elizabeth Freeman’s Time Binds (2010), to name but a few), queer spaces have so far only been systematically examined to a limited extent. Despite their social relevance, the tensions and hierarchies within queer spaces in particular have so far received little attention in literary, media and cultural studies. The conference Negotiating safety aims to address this desideratum by asking how power imbalances, conflicts and mechanisms of exclusion within queer spaces are and have been portrayed, problematized and negotiated in literature and film since 1900. Possible questions could be:

• What qualities do conflicts in queer spaces possess (in terms of boundaries, borders, property rights, etc.)?
• What ideas of mobility and agency are linked to queer spaces and how do these ideas create tensions?
• What functions do imaginary spaces have in the negotiation of social claims to space? What problems can arise within queer spaces in this regard?
• How do queer spaces produce their own hierarchies and exclusions? How are these hierarchies represented and negotiated in literature and film?
• How are tensions and exclusions within queer spaces negotiated aesthetically in literature and film? To what extent is there a difference in perception and gaze within spaces, for example on the parts of people of color, trans* or disabled people?
• What explicit and implicit power structures permeate queer spaces? What ideas of normativity and homogeneity characterize them? To what extent do they have a performative character? By whom is this made conscious, questioned and/or criticized?
• What tensions arise when different forms of discrimination come into contact in ‘safe spaces’? To what extent do these dynamics vary depending on the ‘safe space’

We want to especially encourage young researchers to hand in their contributions. Please apply by sending an abstract (300-500 words max.) via e-mail to Flori Haack (flori.haack@univie.ac.at), Teresa Hiergeist (teresa.hiergeist@univie.ac.at), Alex Lachkar (alex.lachkar@univie.ac.at) and Judith Wimmer (wimmer.judith@univie.ac.at) until June 30, 2025. If costs need to be covered, please do not hesitate to contact us so that we can arrange for the necessary coverage. The conference will take place at the department of Romance Studies from November the 26th to November the 28th.
 

[1] Cf. Bundeskriminalamt (2024): “Anzahl der polizeilich erfassten Opfer von häuslicher Gewalt in Deutschland nach Geschlecht von 2018 bis 2023”, de.statista.com [online]: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1399533/umfrage/polizeilich-erfasste-opfer-von-haeuslicher-gewalt-nach-geschlecht/, 15.05.2025.

[2] Cf. Rottmann, Andrea (2023): “Zuhause”. In: Andrea Rottmann, Benno Gammerl, Martin Lücke (eds.): Handbuch Queere Zeitgeschichten I. Räume. Bielefeld: transcript, p. 150-151.

[3] Cf. Johnston, Lynda; Longhurst, Robyn (2010): Space, Place, and Sex. Geographies of Sexualities. Lanham: Rowman&Littlefield.

[4] Cf. Habringer, Magdalena et al. (2023): LGBTIQ+ in der (niederschwelligen) Wiener Wohnungslosenhilfe. Erfahrungswerte und Bedarfslagen aus Sicht von Fachkräften und Nutzer*innen. Wien: FH Campus Wien, https://www.fsw.at/downloads/kundinnenbefragung/2023_Ergebnisbericht-LGBTIQ_WWH.1687185034.pdf, 15.05.2025.

[5] Cf. Warner, Michael (2002): “Public and Private”. In: Michael Warner (ed.): Publics and Counterpublics. New York: Zone Books, p. 21-64.

[6] Cf. Warner, Michael (2002): Publics and Counterpublics. New York: Zone Books; Halberstam, Jack (2005): In a Queer Time and Place. Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. London/New York: New York University Press.

[7] Cf. Haritaworn, Jin (2015): Queer Lovers and Hateful Others. Regenerating Violent Times and Places. London: Pluto Press.