One of my literature professors told us a story, over drinks, about a beginning lit class she was teaching. On the final exam, she asked the question, “What is Queer Theory?”
A student answered, “It’s when you think someone is gay, but you’re not really sure; you just have a theory.”
We all laughed, and asked the professor if that’s what she taught the class. Apparently, that student slept through at least one lecture.
Then I realized I’m not sure I could have answered that question well – could you? Well, a rough summary of Queer Theory is that we should not be defined by which sexual acts we perform, just like our gender is not defined by the things we do. According to Queer Theory, the current labels we have for people don’t work. That’s especially important because we have only one label for sexual behavior between opposite sexes – heterosexual, while there are lots of labels for non-heterosexuals: gay, lesbian, trans-gender, queer, bisexual, and probably more terms that I don’t know.
My conservative friends are probably squirming right now, but at least, if your life depended on it, you could give a reasonable definition of Queer Theory.
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May 16, 2011 at 2:42 pm
Kathleen
That is cool! I didn’t know there was a Queer theory. I learn something new every day.
May 16, 2011 at 6:19 pm
angelawd
I’ve probably WAY over-simplified a complex area of critical thought, but yes, Queer Theory is a big field of study among some people. Here’s another explanation from Wikipedia:
“Queer theory’s main project is exploring the contesting of the categorization of gender and sexuality; identities are not fixed – they cannot be categorized and labeled – because identities consist of many varied components and that to categorize by one characteristic is wrong.”
I expect to learn a lot more in my Gender and Society class this summer.