Ozzie and Harriet: How Stone Butch Blues Queers and Re-Queers the Heterosexual Couple
Location
Ponderosa Room D
Presentation Type
Presentation
Presentation Topic
LQBTQIA+ Theory, Rhetorical Analysis, Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg, Feminist Theory, Sexuality Studies
Start Date
6-3-2026 3:35 PM
Event Sort Order
55
Abstract
"Ozzie and Harriet: How Stone Butch Blues Queers and Re-Queers the Heterosexual Couple" is a rhetorical analysis of the many romantic pairings featured in Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues from a queer-feminist perspective. This presentation, adapted from a 2024 paper of the same name, works step-by-step through Stone Butch Blues, examining how its depictions of romantic relationships align with and break from the "Ozzie and Harriet paradigm," a term which Leslie Feinberg coined in a 1996 interview for the TV show In the Life to describe the rigid standards of heterosexual coupling reinforced by pop-cultural fixtures such as the sit-com The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966). This presentation culminates in a demonstration of how Stone Butch Blues' semi-autobiographical protagonist, Jess Goldberg, evolves from a figure who reinforces the Ozzie and Harriet paradigm, even in her lesbian relationships, to one who can transcend it, for the betterment of her own life and the lives of her partners.
This document is a copy of the original 2024 paper which this paper draws upon.
Ozzie and Harriet: How Stone Butch Blues Queers and Re-Queers the Heterosexual Couple
Ponderosa Room D
"Ozzie and Harriet: How Stone Butch Blues Queers and Re-Queers the Heterosexual Couple" is a rhetorical analysis of the many romantic pairings featured in Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues from a queer-feminist perspective. This presentation, adapted from a 2024 paper of the same name, works step-by-step through Stone Butch Blues, examining how its depictions of romantic relationships align with and break from the "Ozzie and Harriet paradigm," a term which Leslie Feinberg coined in a 1996 interview for the TV show In the Life to describe the rigid standards of heterosexual coupling reinforced by pop-cultural fixtures such as the sit-com The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-1966). This presentation culminates in a demonstration of how Stone Butch Blues' semi-autobiographical protagonist, Jess Goldberg, evolves from a figure who reinforces the Ozzie and Harriet paradigm, even in her lesbian relationships, to one who can transcend it, for the betterment of her own life and the lives of her partners.
Presenter Bio
Lilliane Jaiden Roberts is a Queer and Transgender Poet based in Lincoln Nebraska pursuing twin degrees in English and Fisheries & Wildlife at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. In 2025 she received the Captain Irby F. Wood Poetry award and her poetry has been published in the Laurus literary magazine. Lilliane currently works as a Writing Fellow at the UNL Writing Center providing feedback to student writers across many disciplines. She has also worked as a nematologist at the UNL Nematode Lab, producing a UCARE research project focusing on endemicity in plant-parasitic nematodes.