Toward Appropriating Tools for Queer Use

What does it mean for a tool to be queer, and why should we be concerned with queer tools? This short paper posits a manifesto toward building tools for queer use, misuse, and appropriation. Drawing from Sara Ahmed’s notions of queer use as acts of subversion [2], queer tools counter norms through their use and misuse. In response to Shaowen Bardzell’s Feminist HCI paper [3], I argue that we can strengthen qualities of participation, pluralism, and self-disclosure in tool design by intentionally allowing for their appropriation—and why, accordingly, we should be prioritizing studying and evaluating misuse as well as use. It is my hope this manifesto opens up a discussion around the seeming paradox of designing for appropriation.