Queer Theory: Definition, History, and Impact

Queer theory is a field of study that examines the nature of sexuality- and gender-based normativity and how society defines and polices the concepts of heterosexuality, homosexuality, and gender and sexual identities.

As a branch of gender and sexuality studies, queer theory aims to deconstruct what is acceptable or “normal.” Queer theory opens new avenues of thought to define concepts considered central to identity and identity politics.

Early queer theorists took their cues and key concepts from several sources, including the gay identity politics that grew out of the activism of the AIDS epidemic, feminist theory, and cultural studies. Here’s a rundown of some of the texts and thinkers central to its development:

• Sexuality as a social construct: During the 1970s, in works like The History of Sexuality (1976), philosopher and historian Michel Foucault questioned how society treated sexuality as an essential truth rather than a social construction. In his theorizing, Foucault posited that identity is not innate and that politics generally rely on hierarchies of desire as a means of oppression.
• Sexual behavior hierarchy: Gayle Rubin’s essay “Thinking Sex” (1984) examined how society places certain sexual behaviors above others. According to Rubin, this normative framework then served as the basis of marginalization and oppression.
• The gendering of sexuality: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s seminal book Epistemology of the Closet (1990) explored how society genders sexuality—for example, by defining your sexual identity primarily by the gender identities of the people who attract you. Learn more about gender identity.
• Sex and gender as performance: In 1990, Judith Butler published Gender Trouble, which suggests sex and gender are performative elements of identity rather than innate characteristics.
• The birth of queer theory: Teresa de Lauretis became the first writer to coin the phrase “queer theory.” De Lauretis outlined a complete rethinking of sexuality divorced from the binaries and standards defined by heterosexual power structures—structures that Michael Warner would later refer to as “heteronormativity.” Learn more about heteronormativity, which is the belief that heterosexuality is the default, and therefore preferred, expression of sexuality.

Queer theory has immediate implications on how LGBTQ scholars consider questions of gender and sexual orientation. It represents a subversion of how many people assume identity politics should work—in other words, that inborn, benign differences between people entitle everyone to equal rights. Queer theory doesn’t deny that people deserve equal rights but rather that the basis of those rights should not be due to any kind of innate or unchangeable identity.

While queer theory, therefore, has a bearing on contemporary political issues like transgender rights, theorists also stress that there’s room to “queer” many areas of study and political interaction that on face value are not immediately relevant to gender or sexuality.

To “queer” politics means dispensing with assumptions about characterization and division and instead focusing on the power structures responsible for division and hierarchy. The queering of society as a whole imagines a future in which people’s identities are fluid and not subject to oppressive binaries.

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