Tracing the Emergence of "Queer Demography"

“Queer demography” is here—but when did it emerge, and what even is it? Despite the term striking sexualities scholars as oxymoronic, it is now being used by some researchers, indicating new possibilities for demography and possible shifts within the knowledge cultures of sexualities scholarship more broadly. To trace the emergence and circulation of “queer demography,” I conducted quantitative and qualitative content analyses of two corpora that capture the heart of the field: all articles ever published on relevant topics in Demography (n=59), the flagship journal of the Population Association of America (PAA), and all program listings on relevant topics appearing in the last decade of PAA’s annual meetings (n=416). I investigate how the field uses this language, the context for its emergence, and what meaningful work it might be doing. I argue that the arrival of “queer demography” is a critical culmination but also a juncture, and that its meaning and usefulness remains unsettled. In tracing its historical emergence and contemporary proliferation out of a broader long-running background of LGBT-inclusive demographic work, I argue that scholars must understand this genealogy as the backdrop that produces a wide range of quantified sexuality knowledge. My project is both a critique and a celebration: my goal is to assess what it is possible for demography to know about sexuality, and what might still be possible to learn in the future.