Irony of Sexual Moralism
In Chapter 1, Warner discusses “in-group purification,” in which members of a stigmatized group might try to deal with their shame by scapegoating others within the group who seem to them more shameful than they are. Warner talks about this in relation to gays and lesbians who scapegoat and thereby further stigmatize members of their community who have “bad” sex:
Pin it on the fuckers who deserve it: sex addicts, body-builders in Chelsea or West Hollywood, circuit boys, flaming queens, dildo dykes, people with HIV, anyone who magnetizes the stigma you can’t shake. The irony is that in this culture, such a response will always pass as sexual ethics. (32)
The irony is that this kind of stigmatization, which damages people, is raised up as an ethics that helps people. Self-righteousness, rather than the transformation of society, is praised.
Irony of Visibility
Throughout The Trouble with Normal, Warner notes the progress of the gay rights movement, but he is skeptical that is accomplishments are in fact progress. One problem is the increased visibility of the gay community, because Warner argues that it is only a small portion of the community that gets visibility, the portion that is the most “respectable” and that aims for acceptance by a national culture. This is the irony of gay visibility:
To the national audience of the United States, it may seem that the gay movement is more visible and powerful than ever. To queers on the ground, this monumental appearance feels as fake as the marbleized facades of 1990s corporate architecture. (79)
Gays appear more visible, but this actually makes the diversity of the gay community invisible, because most people are excluded from representation.
Irony of Progress
Related to the irony of visibility, in which making select members of the gay community visible actually makes everyone else invisible, there is an irony of progress. In this irony, gays think they have made progress, and as a result actually demand less progress. There is a downsizing of goals, and this is seen as a mark of victory rather than a sign of political timidity. Warner explains:
What’s new about the current politics is that it is understood as post-liberationist, a mark of gains already won. The history of queer public activity is now repudiated on the theory that its purpose has been served, that the highest goals of gay men and lesbians are now marriage, military service, and the elaboration of a culture in which sex plays no more a role than it is thought to play in mainstream culture. (164)
In this view, progress starts to look regressive, because the goals of the current official gay rights movement are not about liberation at all.
Irony of HIV Prevention
In Chapter 4, Warner discusses how the destruction of queer space—in, for instance, zoning laws that shut down porn stores, sex clubs, and gay bars—is sometimes defended on the grounds it will prevent HIV. The idea is that if there are fewer spaces for people to have sex, then a sexually transmitted disease will be prevented. But Warner argues this is hypocritical because most of the spaces shut down don’t facilitate sex, and in fact often encourage safe sex:
It’s also ironic that those who invoke AIDS in order to prevent anyone from having sex in a commercial space should also be trying to eliminate a porn trade that enables home consumption. Peep shows, masturbation, and porn consumption are, above all, safe. (170)
This irony shows that HIV prevention is just an excuse for what people are really trying to do: shut down any representation or culture of sex. It is a phobia of sex, rather than a prevention of HIV, that drives these programs.
