Murderous Inclusions

The aim of this Special Issue is to interrogate the intersection of violence and feminist and queer politics of inclusion. As critical voices within the ‘sexual citizenship’ debate have argued, middle-class and homonormative performances of politics and identity are often privileged in dominant frames of inclusion and belonging (Richardson 2000; Bell and Binnie 2002). Moving beyond an analysis of citizenship as limited to some and not others, our scholarly and political aim is to debunk the very move of inclusion – into citizenship, rights and political subjecthood – through sexuality. Instead of taking for granted the incorporation of sexual minorities as a certain pathway to progressive politics, this Special Issue asks how inclusions can be murderous by shifting the focus from their promise to their violences.