Paper short abstract:

Queers know masks. Queers know pandemics. What can we learn from queer art, queer performance, and queer ethnography when masks and pandemics become part of mainstream, everyday, heteronormative life?

Paper long abstract:

Queers across this world understand the social, political, and psychological impacts of masking. Looking into forms of masking within queer communities, and specifically in relation to Cuban art, Medieval court jesters, anthropomorphism, and masculinity, we learn about the ways in which individuals negotiate the stigmatizations of homosexuality, gender diversity, and HIV/AIDS. Turning to the 2020 pandemic, and a virus that is not tied to sexual activity or sexual morality, broader society now struggles with the power of masking and stigmatization. We all face the fears that were once imposed on queer bodies. In discussing the role of masks in the negotiation of queerness, we can begin to understand anti-mask movements and anxieties. We turn to the surreal, the carnavelesque, and the power of play in the negotiation of reality. In the words of queer activist Harry Hays, “Come explore this new planet of Fairy-vision.”