Upclose with Chris Berry
Queer. It’s a term not used lightly, but one that is front and center in Asia’s first series of books on non-normative sexuality and gender cultures.
HK Magazine: What is “queer”?
Chris Berry: Queer was originally a negative term used to refer to gays, lesbians and other people who don’t follow mainstream sexual practices. But there is the question of whether “queer” is meant to be radical or if it’s just a neutral term.
I wouldn’t want to knock it down, one way or another.
HK: How does the concept of “queer” concern heterosexuals?
CB: I’ve found that many people whose sexuality is supposedly mainstream are very often also connected with cultural practices and identities that are considered “queer.” For example, in Asia, gay love short stories are popular throughout Asia and Southeast Asia, though they started originally in Japan. Most of the women who consume them are heterosexuals who are married and have kids. So people who think of themselves as straight should consider all aspects of their identity carefully—I obviously don’t mean it in any sort of negative sense, but they might discover that we’re all queer in one way or another.
HK: By now, the rainbow is a familiar symbol around the world—but what did it originally mean?
CB: It came about in the late 80s and early 90s to imply the idea of diversity in queer cultures; there are more colors than just gay and lesbian. Also, it symbolizes the idea that people are of many different colors, figuratively speaking, and different types of sexual practices can join together to create hope, to create a wondrous future.
HK: What are you trying to achieve with the Queer Asia Book Series?
CB: We’d like to open up a space in Asia for thoughts that might seem marginal in the west, but are more significant in Asia. We’re making a point to not always travel through New York, LA or London when talking about this part of the world.
HK: But wouldn’t you say “queer” is mostly a western term?
CB: That very question is the type of potential topics we want to explore in our series. If we had to use the word “queer” in Asia, we’d need to question things like, how would we translate it? Are we going to just translate it as gay and lesbian, or are we going to try to use words that have the same history of negativity? And what kind of people does it specifically involve?