Queer Rhetorical Leadership: “Ethical Sluts” in Modern U.S.-American Polyamory as Exemplar
Abstract
Abstract Queer rhetorical leadership describes performances of leadership with a queer disposition. As an idea, it exceeds the doing of traditional models of rhetorical leadership by queer rhetors for queer audiences on matters of queer concerns. Rather, queer rhetorical leadership subverts, inverts, and reconceptualizes many of the most common assumptions about how to do “good” leadership in order to lead others in the construction of more queer worlds. This essay explores the notion of queer rhetorical leadership by investigating the discourses of Janet W. Hardy and Dossie Easton in their influential text, The Ethical Slut (1997). In particular, the essay notes how the rhetors use radical revisioning, transformational vulgarities, and cultivating comfort in irresolution to lead readers toward a queerer world via the practice of polyamory.
- Journal
- Rhetoric & Public Affairs
- Published
- 2024-06-01
- DOI
- 10.14321/rhetpublaffa.27.2.0007
- Open Access
- Closed
- Topics
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