The Politics of Naming and Language Creation

Sor Juana's writing participated in shaping Spanish-language intellectual discourse, claiming linguistic authority to articulate her experiences and ideas. For LGBTQ+ communities, language creation has been politically and personally transformative. From creating terms like 'lesbian' and 'gay' as reclaimed identities to developing contemporary language like 'non-binary' or 'genderqueer,' queer communities have asserted authority over naming. Across cultures, LGBTQ+ people have either recovered historical terms for same-sex desire and gender variance or created new vocabulary to express experiences that dominant languages ignored or criminalized. This language creation serves multiple functions: it enables self-recognition and community formation, it resists pathologizing medical terminology, and it asserts that queer people are authorities on their own identities. The concept emphasizes that language is not neutral but carries power—controlling language means controlling perception and possibility. By creating new terms, LGBTQ+ people expand what is thinkable and possible. This connects to Sor Juana's broader intellectual project of claiming discursive power and insisting that marginalized people have the right to name reality on their own terms.