Verta Taylor

SOCIAL MOVEMENT CONTINUITY: THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN ABEYANCE*

This article uses social movement and organization theory to develop a set of concepts that help explain social movement continuity. The theory is grounded in new data on womens rights activism from 1945 to the 1960s that challenge the traditional view that the American womens movement died after the suffrage victory in 1920 and was reborn in the 1960s. This case delineates a process in social movements that allows challenging groups to continue in nonreceptive political climates through social movement abeyance structures. Five characteristics of movement abeyance structures are identified and elaborated: temporality, purposive commitment, exclusiveness, centralization, and culture. Thus, social movement abeyance structures provide organizational and ideological bridges between different upsurges of activism by the same challenging group.

GENDER AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS Gender Processes in Women's Self-Help Movements

Mainstream theory and research in the field of social movements and political sociology has, by and large, ignored the influence of gender on social protest. A growing body of feminist research demonstrates that gender is an explanatory factor in the emergence, nature, and outcomes of all social movements, even those that do not evoke the language of gender conflict or explicitly embrace gender change. This article draws from a case study of the postpartum depression self-help movement to outline the relationship between gender and social movements. Linking theories of gender to mainstream theories on social movements allows us to recognize gender as a key explanatory factor in social movements and, in turn, to identify the role that social movements play in the social construction of gender.

Identity Politics as High-Risk Activism: Career Consequences for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Sociologists

This paper argues that identity politics is a form of high-risk activism. We draw from collective identity approaches to social movements to describe how the Sociologists’ Lesbian and Gay Caucus has used identity-based organizing, assimilationist politics, and personalized political strategies during the past two decades to challenge stigmatized representations of same-sex sexuality and promote equal treatment of gays and lesbians in sociology and the larger society. Using survey data collected in 1981 and 1992 from caucus members, supplemented by intensive interviews, we assess the extent to which an increase in reported rates of discrimination and bias during the past ten years is linked to variations in activist experience and political consciousness. We then present a qualitative analysis of five career consequences suffered by gay, lesbian, and bisexual sociologists who engage in various forms of personalized political resistance: 1) discrimination in hiring; 2) bias in tenure and promotion; 3) exclusion from social and professional networks; 4) devaluation of scholarly work on gay and lesbian topics; and 5) harassment and intimidation. We conclude by examining the implications of our findings for the social movement literature that addresses the formation, use, and impact of identity politics.

THE TARGETS OF SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: BEYOND A FOCUS ON THE STATE

Among students of social movements, the prevailing view is that, in Western democracies, most social movements target the state and its institutions. Recently scholars have questioned this definition of social movements, associated with the political process and contentious politics approaches, arguing that public protest is also used to shape public opinion, identities, and cultural practices and to pressure authorities in institutional arenas not directly linked to the state. In this paper, we take up this debate by examining the targets of recent social movements. Our analysis draws from data on 4,654 protest events that occurred in the United States between 1968 and 1975. The protest events in our dataset encompass a variety of tactics used by social movements organized around a number of different issues. We find that, although virtually all movements in the United States direct some public protest at the state, there is considerable variation in the targets of modern movements. During this period, environmental, peace, international human rights, single-policy, and ethnic movements were more likely to direct their appeals to the government, while the civil rights, gay and lesbian, and the women’s movement were more likely to target public opinion and other, non-state institutions. Our analysis calls into question excessively state-centered conceptions of social movements that view social movement activity as directed primarily at the formal political domain of social life.

Culture and Mobilization: Tactical Repertoires, Same-Sex Weddings, and the Impact on Gay Activism

Social movement scholars have long been skeptical of cultures impact on political change, perhaps for good reason, since little empirical research explicitly addresses this question. This article fills the void by examining the dynamics and the impact of the month-long 2004 same-sex wedding protest in San Francisco. We integrate insights of contentious politics approaches with social constructionist conceptions and identify three core features of cultural repertoires: contestation, intentionality, and collective identity. Our analyses, which draw on rich qualitative and quantitative data from interviews with participants and movement leaders and a random survey of participants, highlight these dimensions of cultural repertoires as well as the impact that the same-sex wedding protest had on subsequent activism. Same-sex weddings, as our multimethod analyses show, were an intentional episode of claim-making, with participants arriving with a history of activism in a variety of other social movements. Moreover, relative to the question of impact, the initial protest sparked other forms of political action that ignited a statewide campaign for marriage equality in California. Our results offer powerful evidence that culture can be consequential not only internally, with implications for participant solidarity and identity, but for political change and further action as well. We conclude by discussing the specifics of our case and the broader implications for social movement scholars.

Feminist methodology in social movements research

Feminist social scientists have developed distinctive principles of inquiry that depart from the positivist ideal of the detached, value-free scientist and are consistent with the feminist goal of rendering womens experiences visible and challenging gender inequality. In this article, I show how my research on the postpartum depression self-help movement illustrates five features of feminist methodology: a gender perspective, accentuation of womens experiences, reflexivity, participatory methods, and social action. My intent is to demonstrate how attention to the epistemological and methodological questions posed by feminist researchers produces new standards of evidence that allow us to recognize the gendering of social movement processes and theory.

Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes

In this article, we use case studies of two different drag performance collectives, the 801 Girls, a drag queen troupe in Key West, Florida, and the Disposable Boy Toys, a political feminist collective in Santa Barbara, California, to explore the differences between drag queens and drag kings. We argue that, despite their divergent routes to performing drag and the different contexts and styles of their shows, a similar critique of hegemonic gender and heteronormativity emerges from their performances. As the first systematic comparison of drag queens and drag kings, this article enhances our understanding of the gendered dynamics of drag.

Queer Women in the Hookup Scene Beyond the Closet

The college hookup scene is a profoundly gendered and heteronormative sexual field. Yet the party and bar scene that gives rise to hookups also fosters the practice of women kissing other women in public, generally to the enjoyment of male onlookers, and sometimes facilitates threesomes involving same-sex sexual behavior between women. In this article, we argue that the hookup scene serves as an opportunity structure to explore same-sex attractions and, at least for some women, to later verify bisexual, lesbian, or queer sexual identities. Based on quantitative and qualitative data and combining queer theory and identity theory, we offer a new interpretation of women’s same-sex practices in the hookup culture. Our analysis contributes to gender theory by demonstrating the utility of identity theory for understanding how non-normative gender and sexual identities are negotiated within heteronormatively structured fields.

PERFORMING PROTEST: DRAG SHOWS AS TACTICAL REPERTOIRE OF THE GAY AND LESBIAN MOVEMENT

This paper presents a theoretical definition of protest that overcomes the bifurcation of politics and culture in mainstream social movement research. The model is grounded in a study of drag performances, which have a long history in same-sex communities as vehicles for expressing gay identity, creating and maintaining solidarity, and staging political resistance. Extending Tilly’s concept of repertoires of contention, we propose the term “tactical repertoires” to refer to protest episodes, and we identify three elements of all tactical repertoires: contestation, intentionality, and collective identity. We combine social constructionist perspectives on gender and sexuality, the social movement literature, and writings in performance studies to understand how drag performances function as tactical repertoires of the gay and lesbian movement. We argue that because they are entertaining, drag shows illuminate gay life for mainstream audiences and provide a space for the construction of collective identities that confront and rework gender and sexual boundaries.

Mobilizing for Change in a Social Movement Society

VERTA TAYLOR Ohio State University consequences for sexual freedom should certainly ensure more of it. Of course, this is exactly what the Christian right and more other Orthodox religions are afraid of; but as I see it, failing another epidemiological disaster, the forward motion is toward sexual freedom and pleasure. This may mean more destabilization of marriage if sexuality is unsatisfying in the relationship, and more permission to use sexuality as a major bond in relationships where sexuality is fulfilling. Nonmonogamy may be more common, but not necessarily as much of an absolute trespass (la the European model). In the twentyfirst century, sex will be more of an appetite and less of a moral crisis. And the good news here is that, ultimately, such a change may make us more humane in our interpersonal relations and more just in our social programs and legal institutions. Sexual health can become part of a rational public health program, and not a political hot potato. At least this is the twenty-first century I would like to live in.