The Queer Writes Back

In The Empire Writes Back, the authors point out that "one way in which has come to be deployed has to do with issues of cultural diversity, ethnic, racial and cultural difference and the power relations between them". While the highlighting of feminism in the Reader is laudable, a more complete survey also requires that comparable attention be focused on how the queer writes back. This assertion responds to the increasing prominence of queer theory since initial conceptualization began soon after The Empire Writes Back was first published. Various aspects of queerness can thus be addressed together: cross-dressing, transgenderism, homosexuality, and transsexuality. Josephine Emery and Cate McGregor have helped shift the focus on transgenderism and transsexuality away from academic and medical scrutiny and, together with others, place them before a wider public. Finally, in "The Future", transmasculinity, recent antidiscrimination legislation, intersex status, and same-sex marriage are used as guides to the queer future of Australian literature.