Dr. Fred Everett Maus’ 1993 essay, “Masculine Discourse in Music Theory,” is still cited regularly; as recently as 2020, two new essays by other scholars gave it sustained attention. In this talk, Dr. Maus returns to that essay, partly to clarify what it tried to accomplish but mostly to ask: What might remain useful in that study after almost 30 years? And, above all, how might related issues be addressed differently in our present, greatly changed professional and sociopolitical situations?

Dr. Fred Everett Maus teaches music at the University of Virginia. He has published on music and narrative, gender and sexuality in discourse about music, queer 1980s pop, and other topics. Recent essays include “Listening and Possessing” (2018), “‘What if Music IS Sex?’: Suzanne Cusick and Collaboration” (2019), “LGBTQ+ Lives in Professional Music Theory” (2020), “Defensive Writing in Discourse about Music” (2020), “Queer Sexuality and Musical Narrative” (forthcoming), and “The B-52s, Loss, and Defiance” (forthcoming). The Oxford Handbook of Music and Queerness, which he co-edited with Sheila Whiteley, was published in February 2022.