Queer Theory

Queer theory is difficult to define as a unified theory. Queer theory has many different manifestations, and many voices contributing to it. Queer theory as an academic study appeared in the 1990s building on the concept of queer recovered in the 1980s and now used as a term for non-normative sexualities and further utilized in activist circles during the rise of HIV/AIDS. Activism, in the form of groups such as ACT-UP, had a profound influence on the theory part of queer theory. Queer theory as a term was coined by Teresa de Lauretis in 1990 as a way to transcend codified gay and lesbian identities. Queer theory then questions sexual identity and resists fixed categories of gender and sexuality such as the gender binary (male, female). It calls into question normativity, broadly defined as norms propagated by heteronormative institutions and thought. Many scholars employ “queer” as a verb meaning to question its normality. Queer can also work as an identity which challenges both heterosexual identity but also LGBT identities that have become normalized (also called homonormativity). Though veering into many different directions, queer theory shares the goals of showing how gender and sexuality is both constructed and performed.