Literature Review of Queer Theory Essay

Everyone has their own take on controversial subjects faced in society, and no matter what age we live in, this particular subject seems to stay just as relevant in the generation before as it does today. The poem written by Richard Blanco titled â Queer Theory: According to My Grandmotherâ (2012), which

Leo Bersani suggests that “the gay man always runs the risk of identifying with culturally dominant images of misogynous maleness” (117). In his article, he discusses how the gay man is able to take on the privileges given to the heterosexual men in society because they represent the dominant gender. In his essay, Thomas Piontek discusses

It is also necessary, before diving into the concepts of this paper, that I elucidate the terms which I will be using, as they are easily confused. Gender, in the context of this paper will describe the sets of culturally prescribed behaviors, actions, and functions assigned to a particular sex. Sex, when used as an adjective, will refer to the biological or "chromosomal" physical identity which separates males from females. Sexuality, like gender, will be used to define individuals on the basis of their cultural/social role within society, but not as an unchangeable feature of a person's identity. It is important to distinguish the meaning of these terms because as they are commonly used, they are usually considered synonyms in some way. By separating and elucidating their meanings, I hope to further press the queer theorist argument that gender and identity within one's sexuality are deeply imbedded in social influences.

In modern culture people are presumed straight until proven otherwise. This ideology is what social theorists have claimed title to as heteronormativity. These uncivilized notions systemize the binaries of both sexual orientation and gender identity. Heteronormativity is a structure of hierarchal binaries that discriminates anyone who does not fit the social “norm” of heterosexuality. Heteronormative mindsets have damaging effects on queer society because they deem heterosexuality as the superior orientation; queer people are underrepresented in the media, politics, culture and other areas of life, leading them to feel marginalized, and it moreover encourages people to stay oblivious to queer orientations.

There is no doubt that there are many parallels between Queer and Feminist theory. Queer theory is a post-structuralist field of study, comprised of key concepts of taken from the core foundation of feminist theory. Much of queer criticism is based off that of feminist critiques. Both are similar in a sense that they take a view the world from a sort of macroperspective (as opposed to micro), highlighting all the inequalities that exist in society and trying to combat them with open-mindedness and freedom of expression. Feminist theory believes that society has been typically patriarchal, favoring the male gender, while noting that women have had to deal with all sorts of unfair and unjust social norms throughout history. Through the means of oppression, objectification, stereotyping, and discrimination, women have had to overcome a lot not just to succeed, but to even have the same rights as men. The oppression shown comes in all aspects of life; political, psychological, social, and even economic. Queer theory, in this regard, holds almost the same values. It is stemmed from the same basis, sighting that non-heterosexuals have often had these same kind of societal limitations as women. In addition, like feminist theory, queer theorists ultimate goal is to change the overall perspective of how sexuality is perceived, and delves into ways of how to combat marginalization of a specific group of people. But though

Queer theorist Michael Warner attempts to provide a solid definition of a concept that typically circumvents categorical definitions: "Social reflection carried out in such a manner tends to be creative, fragmentary, and defensive, and leaves us perpetually at a disadvantage. And it is easy to be misled by the utopian claims advanced in support of particular tactics. But the range and seriousness of the problems that are continually raised by queer practice indicate how much work remains to be done. Because the logic of the sexual order is so deeply embedded by now in

Why is it that ‘Queer’ is perceived as odd, strange, or out of place? Whenever there is a community of individuals, no one should be viewed as out of place because of their sexual orientation. Believe it or not, the term ‘queer’ can be seen as an insult. But of course this is still prevalent today due to the fact that ‘queer’ disrupts alleged stability between ‘biological sex’, gender and sexual desire. Queer Theory challenges the apparent coherence of heterosexuality, which is actually unstable and insecure, and depends on carefully constructed individual performances. The apparent coherence of heterosexuality also constantly denies and excludes homosexuality as an equal possibility for sexual desire and gender roles. The fact of the matter

The one person I’ll be focusing on in this essay is Dr. David M. Halperin a professor at the University of Michigan, and a graduate of Classics and Humanities from Stanford University. In the article titled The Normalation of Queer Theory, Halperin fulfills his purpose of enlightening the readers concerning change in perception regarding the phrase Queer theory, as well as the transformation in implication of sole word queer. He begins by elaborating on Teresa de Lauretis, and her inadvertent affect catalyzed by her conference. The terminology used for that conference got her in quick sand amongst the faculty at UCSD, “Why do they have to call it that?”(339). Lauretis initiated the crowd immediately by acknowledging her provocation; she constructs clarity by saying she solely wanted to “unsettle the complacency of lesbian and gay studies”(340). She anticipated to construct queer theory as a “placeholder for a hypothetical knowledge-practice not yet existence”(340). Numerous characteristics and factors play into an individual's distinctiveness, it is offensive to place a threshold on an individual, or mold labels for individuals. Instead, queer theory enlarges the debate on distinct uniqueness,

The Queer Theory is affecting several individuals in today’s society. Many people may have probably laughed at the title of this topic (including myself) or simply reading the word “queer”, but it wasn’t until I actually started researching this topic that I began trying to put myself in the shoes of these people known as “queers”. The word “Queer,” usually refers to anyone who is basically (LBGT), Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay or Transgender, but has other meanings too. In this article, Dissenting with queer theory: reading Ranciere queerly; the author Adam Greteman unfolds the true meaning of Queer, its contradictions; how humor brings a function to argue about the educational aspect of it; as well as how the queer theory may be

An essential or a larger focal association for the representation of the LGBT group is not existing, yet various LGBT rights associations are active around the world. The LGBT social movements that are organized today are consisting of a wide range of political activism and cultural activities. These exercises incorporate campaigning, road walks, social gatherings, media, craftsmanship, and research. Also, included, not constrained to, in the social objectives of the LGBT social developments are the tests in the prevailing developments of manliness and gentility. Homophobia and the supremacy of the gendered hetero atomic family or heteronormativity are likewise included in the challenges of the social movements. Of course, these social

Throughout the beginning of the course students have obtained a wide variety of new vocabulary, including many concepts and theories. Within this paper I will be discussing the following: gender, transgender, transsexual, sexism, four axioms of masculinity, and gender based harassment. I have focused on the following six terms because they all focus on sexuality and gender and how they differ throughout the expression and biology of oneself. All of these terms relate to the freedom of choice and allowing people to be their authentic self while also including some limitations that people have put on them for not conforming to heterosexual norms. I also have focused on the following two feminist theories: Queer Theory and Radical Theory. Both these theories helped to pull all six of my concepts together to be analyzed while also dividing them by allowing people to be themselves both biologically and by expression but also tying in the negativity that these people face every day for choosing to live their lives how they want.

Valocchi’s article, NOT YET QUEER ENOUGH The Lessons of Queer Theory for the Sociology of Gender and Sexuality, discusses the advances queer theory has made towards becoming a Sociological Theory. Sociologists that study gender and sexuality are trying to cover all aspects when considering queer theory. Social structures need to be taken into consideration when dealing with sexuallity as well as gender ientities. To fully understand queer theory we need to understand how all the concepts regarding ones sexuality, the gender they choose to identify as, and sex in regards to their biology relate. Sex is the biological classificaition of being male or female while gender is the social construction of who you are and what you have to do because

The token queer identity may be easily accepted by a cishet culture if queerness becomes two-dimensional and stagnant. For instance, queer women are fetishized for straight male sex drive. A queer woman may face less overt social rejection if she is a tool for sexual gratification. This social acceptance, however, is not a legitimate form of social equity but instead furthers the deviance of LGBTQ+ people by forcing them into a dichotomy: queerness is socially inappropriate but it can be allowed if the queer person abides by specific, demeaning

Throughout the world, countries and cultures are struggling with the idea of queer. The problem is that the United States and many countries live with the concept of patriarchy. Patriarchy is a social constructed structure to organize people to live in a gender binary society. The gender binary is the constructed gender roles that men and women are expected to do in which it affects the everyday lives of queers and it doesn’t allow them to freely express who they truly are. Historically, white heterosexual males and heterosexual families are the ideal model and are those in higher power.

Queer theory emerged from the fields of women’s studies and queer studies. It is the readings and theorizations of queer texts and the idea of queerness itself. Queer theory attempts to demonstrate how sexuality is culturally appropriated