Queer Temporalities and the Significance of ‘Music Scene’ Participation in the Social Identities of Middle-aged Queers

Abstract

During the last decade in particular, the scope of queer scholarship has expanded. Queer readings, theories and problematics now pervade multiple sites of cultural and sociological thinking, reaching beyond the specificities of gender and sexuality and their attendant politics. While there is still important work to be done in these areas, thinking beyond the sexual act allows for an understanding of 'queer' through culture and as lifestyle. Here, I relate this specifically to music scene participation and middle age by exploring the significance of music and dance-based activities in the lives of queer people who do not perform their age in accordance with heteronormative conventions of social propriety and thus do not conform to desirable heteronormative temporalities. The concept of 'queer temporality' is not new, however this article demonstrates the relationship of musical time to this temporal scheme thus offering an additional perspective on queer time.