Scholarship and Publication Research

Prepared by: Michelle Dvoskin

GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, founded in 1993 and affiliated with the GL/Q Caucus of the Modern Languages, obviously uses the “G” and “L” acronyms; the “Q” may stand for “quarterly” rather than “queer,” although this is not explicitly stated on the journal’s website. Article titles, as well as special issue titles, regularly make use of the word “queer,” typically within a queer theory context rather than as shorthand for various non-heteronormative identities. In contrast, the Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, founded in 1994, does not use the word queer in its mission statement and rarely uses it within the publication (and many of the references that do appear seem to stem from a 2009 article by Larry Kramer decrying queer theory, as well as articles countering his piece).

Among theatre and performance journals, “queer” seems slightly more likely to appear in article titles than “gay,” “lesbian,” or “bisexual.”1 In the two journals affiliated with ATHE, Theatre Journal and Theatre Topics, a survey of article titles since 2005 shows three TJ articles that use “queer” or “queering,” one of which also uses “gay.” No TT articles use any of these keywords in their titles over this period.

Finally, the book series “Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theatre/Drama/Performance,” edited by Jill Dolan and David Román, includes a dozen titles. Of those, 5 include “queer” or “queering,” two include “gay” and /or “lesbian,” and 5 use neither queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender.

[1] Based on a review of article titles over the past 5 years.