introduction to queer theory
I created this website for a class called Lesbian and Queer Cultural Productions, so I better know
what queer means. (And no, "queer theory" is not speculation about what's going to happen on the next episode of Queer As Folk.)
Here's a quote from Tamsin Spargo's book, Foucault and Queer Theory to get the ball rolling:
What is Queer Theory?
'Queer' can function as a noun, an adjective or a verb, but in each case is defined against
the 'normal' or normalising. Queer theory is not a singular or systematic conceptual or methodological
framework, but a collection of intellectual engagements with the relations between sex, gender and sexual desire.
If queer theory is a school of thought, then it's one with a highly unorthodox view of discipline.
The term describes a diverse range of critical practices and priorities: readings of the representation of same-sex desire
in literary texts, films, music, images; analyses of the social and political power relations of sexuality; critiques of the sex-gender system;
studies of transsexual and transgender identification, of sadomasochism and of transgressive desires. (end quote)
Trans activist and all around super brain Riki Anne Wilchins uses a nice descriptive phrase, too. (This is from her book Read My Lips.)
If something is queer, it could be said to "challenge cultural imperatives of normalcy."
Now I'll try to put it in simpler terms. You may have heard "queer" used in a negative, hurtful context as a gay-bashing term. Well, the word "queer" has
been officially reappropriated, reclaimed and wiped clean of all nastiness by non-straight folks, activists and academia. So "queer" is not a bad word, it's a cool word.
Go ahead and say it all you want. Come on, it's fun.
Queer means not "normal". Thinking queer means a rejection of the binary oppositions
we've got set up in our society, like masculine/feminine, gay/straight (or, ok, the three-pronged gay/bi/straight classification system) and even male/female.
But queer's an ambiguous, fluid, slippery word, by the very nature of what it stands for.
"Queer" can also stand in for plain old "gay" or "lesbian" or "LGBT" (that's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) as a descriptor.
The only time queer and LGBT are mutually exclusive is when there is some sort of LGBT normative standard being applied.
For example, if someone says:
"Normal people are heterosexual, and other abnormal people are homosexuals," that line of thinking would be not queer (and just plain sad).
"People are either straight, bisexual or gay." Sorry, you're getting closer but still not queer.
"There are as many sexualities and genders as there are people!" Right on, now that's queer.
You can be a queer person. You can think queer.
You can do a queer reading of a text, like a movie. (Like, "Hey, that volleyball scene in Top Gun is really homoerotic." That constitutes a queer reading of one scene.)
Queer can even be a verb. (For example, Xena: Warrior Princess has been effectively queered now that fans have documented the show's lesbian subtext and TV Guide interviewed Lucy Lawless about it.)
With this website, my mission is to do a queer reading of Ranma 1/2, and hey, maybe even queer it too.
Now, why not learn a little about gender, sex and the body? click to get smarter.