The goblin, the alien, and the horror of being seen: Queer/trans organising and assimilation in the realm of sight

Sight plays a key role in the definition of the queer. Blending activist and academic modalities, this paper explores the question: what does it mean for queer and trans organisers to transcend the dichotomy of visibility, operating on a different plane that resists assimilation to the cis gaze? Whether visible or invisible, the relationship to the realm of the visual seems to inescapable characterise queer and trans experience. Subjectively, being seen or unseen can both lead to anything from abject horror to psychophysical euphoria. The intersection of these dichotomies is explored through two opposed pop culture symbols which subvert the gender binary, the goblin and the alien. While identifying with these visually striking, monstrous archetypes can act as a defensive mechanism, providing a means for queer and trans people to respond to the horror of being seen, it is argued that they also offer possibilities for euphoria. However, if, the conjunction of these symbols transcends several dichotomies of queer and transness in the visual space, it raises the further question of transcending queerness/transness altogether. Following decolonial understandings of gender beyond the cis/trans binary, and recalling that Butler’s understanding is that gender is performative, not a performance, this paper argues that queer organisational praxis can move away from the visual realm, where even apparent subversion risks assimilation, to pursue a more experientially holistic mode of liberation. While engaging in queer theory, therefore, the paper’s premise and conclusion are firmly organisational.