Isn't it queer: exploring spaces, people and aesthetics of the queer cultural movement

This study explores and argues the theory that the queer cultural movement in the UK is a splinter from the gay movement as a result of gay integration through assimilation into the heteronorm. It describes the three key areas of space, people and aesthetics employed in two major centres of queer culture in the UK, London and Manchester. This research has been motivated by a need to document this culture and explore the issues effecting its development. It has findings relating to a number of research areas, including human geography, sociology, design, marketing and queer theory.

The approach taken is based strongly in ethnographic research, with results and observations drawn directly from the field and the people taking part in this movement. In order to lend context, topics surrounding the primary research subject have been explored and integrated, such as the effects of gentrification, cosmopolitanism, gay spacial development and heteronormative forces in relation to queer identity.

This study has found a strong argument can be made to define queer culture as a separate movement when compared with the gay movement in 2016. In London, queer spaces are developing following a model of gentrification, whereas in Manchester, this development is somewhat stifled by the effects of mainstream gay cultures assimilation into the heteronorm and widespread cosmopolitanism, with queer culture existing in smaller queer ‘bubbles’ that may not develop to the extent of the capitals queer spaces.

The study concludes by discussing the need for queer space in a modern society, as a safe space for queer expression and exploration, and how the queer movement will take on the role of a progressive generations gender and sexual identity movement, in place of the gay movement of the 1970’s.