I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so I figured the chit-chat forum would do. For those of you familiar with queer theory, I would be much obliged to you if you would help me out a bit. I think I understand generally what queer theory is—a focus on the deconstruction and reconstruction of identities—but when applying this theory as a lens to analyze historical sources I can't seem to wrap my head around what to do. How would one apply queer theory to a work of literature? To a legal document (like a court proceeding)? To a photograph/cartoon/print? Etc. How is queer theory used to analyze history in general? Can sexuality be constructed differently in different environments? Are there any examples of this?
Judith Butler and Michel Foucault are the big names within queer theory - check them out if you haven't already! In Foucault's History of Sexuality he describes what he calls the birth of the homosexual. According to Foucault sexuality as identity wasn't really thing before the Victorian era. Homosexual acts were still considered a sin before that but they were seen as just that - acts - and not as an essential part of someone's being. Categories for different sexualities were invented as a means for controlling and monitoring the population. According to Foucault, sexuality is an arbitrary construct and not based on anything "natural." For example in ancient Greece it was common for men to have sexual relations with other men. Sexuality was then not based on which gender you slept with but whether you were active or passive. Queer - a Graphic History by Dr. Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele is a great easy to read introduction to queer theory
Ah! yes, that makes sense. Somehow I didn't make the connection to ancient Greece, so thank you for pointing that out! I am, actually, familiar with some of Foucault's work but not Judith Butler's - I have every intention of reading hers though!
Definitely read Butler, but also Eve Sedgwick, Jose Esteban Monez, J Jack Jack Halberstam (The Queer Art of Failure is basically a gateway drug), Eli Clare, Alison Kafer, Lee Edelman, etc. I think hyacinth girl explained it really well since this helps us work against taxonomies, rigid homogeneous structures, and heteronormativity. Applied to literature, “queer” is a broad, sweeping term and generally depends on the text.
I would also highly encourage you to read the work of Bell Hooks and Kimberle Crenshaw on intersectionality and the work that has to be done for all of these theories to truly matter. Including making all the theories accessible to people without master degrees and not using language as an exclusionary tool. For a long time the lack of intersectional work done through queer theory has been harmful to all queer people of color. So yes, queer theory is highly useful IF looked through an intersectional lense. You can also look into Critical Race theory to help educate how you practice queer theory. "Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society's definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference – those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older – know that survival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths. For the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master's house as their only source of support." - Audre Lorde
Kimberle Crenshaw is so great Have you read This Bridge Called My Back? It’s dated, but oh so important
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll definitely look into it. No, I haven't read it. Looks like I'll be visiting the library this weekend!
