Listening to the Sirens: Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig

Beginning with a close examination of the mythology surrounding the sirens - whose music seduced Ulysses into a state of mind in which he would gladly sacrifice everything for the illicit pleasures promised in their song - Peraino goes on to consider the musical creatures, musical gods & demigods, musical humans, & music-addled listeners who have been associated with behavior that breaches social conventions. She deftly employs a sophisticated reading of Foucault as an organizational principle as well as a philosophical focus to survey seductive & transgressive queerness in music from the Greeks through the Middle Ages & to the contemporary period. Listening to the 

Sirens analyzes the musical ways in which queer individuals express & discipline their desire, represent themselves, build communities, & subvert heterosexual expectations. It covers a wide range of music including medieval songs, works by Handel, Tchaikovsky & Britten, women's music & disco, performers such as Judy Garland, Melissa Etheridge, Madonna, & Marilyn Manson, & the movies The Rocky Horror Picture Show & Hedwig & the Angry Inch.