Abstract

Chapter Three discusses the rhetoric of visibility that is prevalent in sexual minorities’ theory and politics today. Noting the shift on the part of oppressed or marginalized segments of the population in Western democracies from an emphasis on making themselves heard to an emphasis on rendering themselves visible, the author shows the formative role in this respect of the struggles of the US' s most "visible" yet most overlooked minority. Linking this "visibility drive" to the theatricalization of gender explored earlier, the chapter also probes the connections between "visibility", social identity, and the contemporary drive to power.

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