Kinky Hermeneutics: Resisting Homonormativity in Queer Theology

In this article, I sketch out something of a manifesto for the writing of queer theology. Beginning with a glimpse of the ways that anxieties about non-normative bodies and sexualities implicate all queer identity and practice (including so-called ‘straight’ sex which is considered transgressive for some other reason), I then suggest ways that an awareness of the values and practices of the bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism (BDSM) community can illuminate the indecency of theological reflection. I believe that kink represents a valuable approach to meaning-making which holds great possibilities for the theological discipline, particularly its unique relationship to social and interpersonal power dynamics, as well as its willingness to ‘dig around in the dirt’ of those things which are scary or taboo and find satisfying, sexy ways of relating to that fear. Above all, I hope to provoke new ways of thinking that challenge our easy answers about what progressive or liberative theology might look like, with deliberate attention to what is indecent in our frameworks