Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory which is broadly associated with the study and theorization of gender and sexual practices that exist outside heterosexuality, and which challenge heteronormativity. Following social constructionist developments in sociology, queer theorists are often critical of what they consider essentialist views of sexuality and gender. Instead, they study those concepts as social and cultural phenomena, often through an analysis of the categories, language, and binary oppositions in which they are portrayed.
It emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (formerly often known as gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. As an academic discipline, queer theory itself was developed by American feminist scholars Judith Butler and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Other scholars associated with the development of queer theory are French post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault, and Chicana feminist author Gloria Anzaldúa. History Informal use of the term "queer theory" began with Gloria Anzaldúa and other scholars in the 1990s, themselves influenced by the work of French post-structuralist philosopher Michel Foucault, who viewed sexuality as socially constructed and rejected identity politics. Queer theory's roots can also be traced back to activism, with the reclaiming of the derogatory term "queer" as an umbrella term for those who do not identify with heteronormativity in the 1980s. This would continue on in the 1990s, with Queer Nation's use of "queer" in their protest chants, such as "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"
Teresa de Lauretis organized the first queer theory conference in 1990. In her words, "the work of the conference was intended to articulate the terms in which lesbian and gay sexualities may be understood and imaged as forms of resistance to cultural homogenization, counteracting dominant discourses with other constructions of the subject in culture."
According to David Halperin, an early queer theorist, de Lauretis' usage was somewhat controversial at first, as she chose to combine the word "queer" which was just starting to be used in a "gay-affirmative sense by activists, street kids, and members of the art world," and the word "theory" which was seen as very academically weighty. In the early 1990s, the term started to become legitimized in academia.
Queer Theory was developed by American academics Judith Butler at University of California, Berkeley, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick at Duke University into an academic discipline Other early queer theorists include Michael Warner, Lauren Berlant, and Adrienne Rich.
Feminist literary criticism laid groundwork by linking gender and textual interpretation. Foundational works like Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet (1990) drew on literary and philosophical traditions to examine the homo/heterosexual binary. Sedgwick, D. A. Miller, Leo Bersani, and other queer literary critics have analyzed themes such as the closet, shame, and power in narratives.
Definition The term "queer" itself intentionally remains loosely defined in order to encompass the difficult-to-categorize spectrum of gender, sexuality and romantic attraction. Similarly, queer theory remains difficult to objectively define as academics from various disciplines have contributed varying understanding of the term. At its core, queer theory relates to queer people, their lived experience and how their lived experience is culturally or politically perceived, specifically referring to the marginalization of queer people. This thinking is then applied to various fields of thinking.
In an influential essay, Michael Warner argued that queerness is defined by what he called "heteronormativity"; those ideas, narratives and discourses which suggest that heterosexuality is the default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. Warner stated that while many thinkers had been theorising sexuality from a non-heterosexual perspective for perhaps a century, queerness represented a distinctive contribution to social theory for precisely this reason. Lauren Berlant and Warner further developed these ideas in their seminal essay, "Sex in Public".
According to Warner, critics such as Edward Carpenter, Guy Hocquenghem and Jeffrey Weeks had already emphasised the "necessity of thinking about sexuality as a field of power, as a historical mode of personality, and as the site of an often critical utopian aim". Whereas the terms "homosexual", "gay" or "lesbian" which they used signified particular identities with stable referents (i.e. to a certain cultural form, historical context, or political agenda whose meanings can be analysed sociologically), the word "queer" is instead defined in relation to a range of practices, behaviours and issues that have meaning only in their shared contrast to categories which are alleged to be "normal". Such a focus highlights the indebtedness of queer theory to the concept of normalisation found in the sociology of deviance, particularly through the work of Michel Foucault, who studied the normalisation of heterosexuality in his work The History of Sexuality.
In The History of Sexuality, Foucault argues that repressive structures in society police the discourse concerning sex and sexuality and are thus relegated in the private sphere. As a result, heterosexuality is normalized while homosexuality (or queerness) is stigmatized. Foucault then points out that this imposed secrecy has led to sexuality as a phenomenon that needs to be frequently confessed and examined. Foucault's work is particularly important to queer theory in that he describes sexuality as a phenomenon that "must not be thought of as a kind of natural given which power tries to hold in check" but rather "a historical construct." Judith Butler extends this idea of sexuality as a social construct to gender identity in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, where they theorize that gender is not a biological reality but rather something that is performed through repeated actions.
Because this definition of queerness does not have a fixed reference point, Judith Butler has described the subject of queer theory as a site of "collective contestation". They suggest that "queer" as a term should never be "fully owned, but always and only redeployed, twisted, queered from a prior usage and in the direction of urgent and expanding political purposes". While proponents argue that this flexibility allows for the constant readjustment of queer theory to accommodate the experiences of people who face marginalisation and discrimination on account of their sexuality and gender, critics allege that such a "subjectless critique", as it is often called, runs the risk of abstracting cultural forms from their social structure, political organization, and historical context, reducing social theory to a mere "textual idealism".
Queer theory deals with the micro level (the identity of the individual person), the meso level (the individual in their immediate groups such as family, friends, and work), and the macro level (the larger context of society, culture, politics, policies and law). Accordingly, queer theory not only examines the communities surrounding the queer people, but also the communities they form. Same-sex living communities have a significant priority in the formation of a queer theory. The standard work of Andreas Frank, Committed Sensations, highlights comprehensively the life situation of coming out, homosexuality and same-sex communities to the millennium.
Queer theory in philosophy Lens for power Queer theory is the lens used to explore and challenge how scholars, activists, artistic texts, and the media perpetrate gender- and sex-based binaries, and its goal is to undo hierarchies and fight against social inequalities. Due to controversy about the definition of queer, including whether the word should even be defined at all or should be left deliberately open-ended, there are many disagreements and often contradictions within queer theory. In fact, some queer theorists, like Berlant and Warner and Butler, have warned that defining it or conceptualizing it as an academic field might only lead to its inevitable misinterpretation or destruction, since its entire purpose is to critique academia rather than become a formal academic domain itself.
Fundamentally, queer theory does not construct or defend any particular identity, but instead, grounded in post-structuralism and deconstruction, it works to actively critique heteronormativity, exposing and breaking down traditional assumptions that sexual and gender identities are presumed to be heterosexual or cisgender.
Queer theory and communication studies Queer theory is applied to different disciplines, including communication studies and research. It was introduced to the field of communication through Jeffrey Ringer's Queer Words, Queer Images: Communication and the Construction of Homosexuality in 1994, which offered a queer perspective to communication research findings. Queer theory has also contributed to communication research by challenging the heteronormative society's notions of what's considered deviant and taboo—what is considered normative and non-normative.
Queering family communication Queer theory's interdisciplinarity is evident in its application in and critique of family communication. One of the criticisms regarding family communication is its focus on "mainstream" families, often focusing on heterosexual parents and children.
Although more studies on family communication have started to include nontraditional families, critical rhetorical scholar Roberta Chevrette argues that researchers continue to look at nontraditional families, including families with openly queer members, from a heteronormative lens. That is, when studying LGBTQ+ families, many scholars continue to compare these families to their cis-heterosexual counterparts' norms. As Chevrette writes, "Queering family communication requires challenging ideas frequently taken for granted and thinking about sexual identities as more than check marks."
Chevrette describes four ways that scholars can "queer" family communication: (1) revealing the biases and heteronormative assumptions in family communication; (2) challenging the treatment of sexuality and queerness as a personal and sensitive topic reserved for the private sphere rather than the public; (3) interpreting identity as a socially constructed phenomenon and sexuality as being fluid in order to expose the ways gender roles and stereotypes are reinforced by notions of identity and sexuality as being fixed; and (4) emphasizing intersectionality and the importance of studying different identity markers in connection with each other.
Intersectionality and queer theory
The concept of queer theory has emerged from multiple avenues that challenge the definition of normality. However, institutions often tend to prioritize one marginalized group over others, resulting in limited social change. As activist Charlene A. Carruthers describes in her book Unapologetic, it is important to imagine "alternative economics, alternative family structures, or something else entirely" from an imagination of cross-sectional communities – such as her stance as a Black queer feminist. Imagination is a crucial aspect of queer theory. It is a tool for creating new worlds that are currently not viable for under-represented or oppressed communities, prompting a transformative stance to current norms. An intersectional approach decentralizes queer theory and thus shifts power to a more radical set of narratives, aligning with the definition of queerness itself: challenging prominent, white, and heterosexual discourses.