The 2025 Francelia Butler Lecture: Curtains, Blinds, and Closet Doors

Abstract: In our current era of rapidly intensifying homo- and transphobia, we argue that Rudine Sims Bishop’s foundational framework of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors requires critical reconsideration. While Bishop’s metaphor has been influential in challenging representation gaps in children’s and young adult literature, its investment in visibility prompts us to examine the complicated role surveillance plays in the violent exposure of marginalized identities. Drawing on queer theory, we propose an alternative framework: curtains, blinds, and closet doors—metaphors that emphasize strategic opacity, graduated control over disclosure, and the right to refusal. Through close readings of texts including Rosa Guy’s Ruby , Joshua Whitehead’s Jonny Appleseed , and Disney films, we explore how obscurity and ambiguity can function as protective strategies rather than representational failures. We call for methodologies that value refusal and strategic illegibility, challenging the assumption that visibility inevitably leads to liberation and safety for queer youth.