Queer Contagion

          According to the social contagion theory relating to queerness, being a 'normal' or not queer person who is exposed to a queer character/person can cause the person to become queer, thus spreading queerness around, usually depicted as a trend. The cishet-ness backed by U.S. conservatives describes wokeness as 'spreading like wildfire', while homosexuality being a trend and not based in reality. In actuality, the more accepting society is of queer populations, the more likely people are to learn of and come out as queer. So in a sense, queerness appears to 'spread' or develop-- just as information does. Some analogous examples of something 'spreading' due to social acceptance is left-handedness, divorce, and in some cases, tattoos. 

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          But so does infectious disease, in which people are suggesting what queerness is through the language of the theory of 'social contagion'. I propose that queerness, like many things in view of the self, are not innate, therefore have to be acquired in life. However, the phrasing of the language of 'contagious' or 'infectious' when talking about this phenomenon lends itself to the idea that it is disease or illness that is being talked about, not a state of being such as queerness. It is easy to fall into the trap of believing something is negative because of its negative association with language. This is why, under the theory of social contagion, language must be altered so as to not give rise to the idea that queerness is a disease. 

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          Even then, we must grapple with the question- is it even bad that young generations receive all the knowledge they can about a topic, gender and sexuality included? Or is the narrative controlled by certain people to 'preserve' the youth, as they make up their own definitions of preservation?

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Citations

Who’s afraid of social contagion? (2023, July 31). Boston Review. https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/whos-afraid-of-              social-contagion/    

Paul, J. (2024, February 5). LGBT social contagion: A failed hypothesis. American Dreaming.                                                            https://americandreaming.substack.com/p/lgbt-social-contagion-a-failed-hypothesis 

Centola, D. (2020). How behavior spreads: The science of complex contagions. Princeton University Press. 

Migdon, B. (2022, August 3). The Hill. The Hill. https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/3586654-new-                 research-challenges-claim-that-youth-identify-as-transgender-due-to-social-contagion/