Magical Abnormalities

One of the most frequently cited meanings of myth in feminist and queer theory (especially in that written by authors from the Global North) is when it is thought of as a fiction devised by the cisheteropatriarchal and colonial power structures to symbolically order the world and, therefore, as a narrative justification of its violence. At a time when criticism recognizes the need to demystify the body in order to restore its sovereignty, the authors gathered here in this issue titled “Magical Abnormalities”^[1]“Magical Abnormalities” is the title of one of the sections of Borderlands/La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa in which she explores the relationship between border-line and non-binary bodies within … Continue reading speculate about the need to mythify and mystify what it means to be queer in the arts. The mediums of Bestiario cuir hold our hand and to help us become possessed by four riders; edu rubix invites us to listen closely to the eternal cry of the Gorgons; Júlia Ripoll reinterprets the figure of James Baldwin as that of an androgynous freak; and Elena Castro proposes an approach to fantastic visuality from a new sense of sincerity.

This month’s issue offers a seedbed from which to understand that the fact that gender and sexuality are situated narratives (classified as myths within critical literature) not only allows us to expose them as naturalized fictions in order to delegitimize them, but also presents us with the opportunity to narrate, discount and retell new (auto)biographies that embrace a greater multiplicity of bodies. Our bodies have always been required to possess an extraordinarily high level of clarity and conciseness in order to justify our desire to belong, to be desired and desiring and, in short, to cling to life, but we now claim our right to non-literality^[2]I first thought of this thanks to an interview with Juliana Huxtable in which she said: “I think it’s really important that as a black trans woman I have the right not to be documentary, to not … Continue reading. Explaining ourselves as fabulous, phantasmagorical and legendary beings allows us not only to shatter normative epistemology but also to attempt new ways of thinking thoughts and globalizing the globe^[3]Donna Haraway, Seguir con el problema, Generar parentesco en el Chtuluceno /Carry on with the Problem, Generating Kinship in the Chtulucene (Bilbao: Consonni, 2019), 66.. Let’s become as invisible as fairies, metamorphose into centaurs, reclaim a spiritual connection with witches, fall in love with Coyolxauhqui, and lust after Hermaphrodite! Let’s construct utopian scenarios and take refuge from reality!

Fantasy forever! Long live the monsters, the queers and the lovers!

[Cover images: Gloria Anzaldúa, El Cenote, s/f. Pictogram from Luz en lo Oscuro / Light in the Dark, 2015.]