It's our duty to oppose Pope Benedict's words on ecology and gender in his address to Vatican staff today (12.23.08). The Pope declared that if tropical forests deserve our “protection,” then “the human being” (defined as “man” and “woman”) deserves it no less. He declared this, furthermore, in a proclamation that explicitly targeted “gender theory.” Pope Benedict asserted, “We need something like human ecology, meant in the right way.”
Of course, we should oppose these words not only from the basis of queer theory, but from the position of ecology itself. Why? Because ecology is queer down to the genomic level and below. As I've been writing an essay for PMLA called “Queer Ecology,” I see the Pope's address as a perverse Christmas present. It's like a ghastly pair of socks. You didn't really want it, but you have to be kind of grateful for it in any case.
Stay dialed for a full account of my essay.
Will Slavoj Zizek figure out a way of defending the Pope on this one, as he has done in the past? Or will the Pope's yin-yang language of natural harmony be too much for him to stomach?
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