“It Helps if I Don’t Come Across as the Intersex Person but as the Regular Guy”. LGBTIQ* Movements, Credibility, and Mis-Fitting in Knowledge Spaces in Austria

Abstract

Knowledge spaces as diverse as universities, parliaments, and activist organisations are fraught with difficulty for those who do not easily “fit” into them. They are governed by discursive, behavioural, somatic, and material norms concerning who does or does not belong in them as well as which/whose knowledges are or are not to be considered credible. Thus, members of minoritised groups often have to negotiate their presence in hostile knowledge spaces in ways that go beyond abstract epistemological considerations. In this paper, I discuss how LGBTIQ* activists and academics in Austria navigate knowledge spaces that may treat them as “space invaders”. Based on semi-structured interviews, I explore how participants may seek to de-emphasise or emphasise their mis-fit regarding the spaces they traverse. I examine examples of how such attempts may either not work in the first place or backfire in unintended ways, and their connections to wider societal norms and intersectional exclusions.