................................................................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................................ iv INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 France's Particular Universalism: Republican Universalism and French Sexual Citizenship ....................................... 7 The Uncertain Place of Sexual and Gender Minorities in France ................................................................................ 15 Modern French Lesbian, Gay, and Queer Literary Politics and Political Literature .................................................... 22 CHAPTER ONE: Guy Hocquenghem's Utopian Desire ........................................................................................ 32 "Pour une conception homosexuelle du monde" .......................................................................................................... 36 Disorienting Desire ....................................................................................................................................................... 43 The Blind Leading the Blind: Un-seeing Distance with L'amour en relief .................................................................. 55 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................... 74 CHAPTER TWO: Où sont les lesbiennes ? Monique Wittig's Runaway Lesbians .............................................. 78 A Life in Movement(s) ................................................................................................................................................. 80 Wittig's Literary "Trojan Horses" ................................................................................................................................. 93 "Elles disent que c'est un monde nouveau qui commence:" Wittig's Lesbian Warriors .............................................. 98 Misplacing Wittig's Lesbians ..................................................................................................................................... 110 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 124 CHAPTER THREE: "On est bien dans le ghetto:" Placing Community with Guillaume Dustan .................. 129 Autofiction and the Location of Truth ........................................................................................................................ 136 Coming Out into the "Gay Ghetto" ............................................................................................................................ 147 Finding One's Way in the "Gay Ghetto" .................................................................................................................... 154 The Limits of the "Ghetto" ......................................................................................................................................... 165 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................. 170 CHAPTER FOUR: Much Too American (and Gay)! Wendy Delorme's Indecent Queer Feminism .............. 176 Qu'est-ce que le gender ? ........................................................................................................................................... 177 We Are Family: Queer(ing) Kinship .......................................................................................................................... 188 The Laugh of the Femme Medusa Warrior: Erecting Queer Feminist Bridges ......................................................... 203 "We'll Take Your ID and We Won't Give it Back:" Busting Borders with Post-porn .............................................. 214 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 227 WORKS CITED ....................................................................................................................................................... 233