Queer theory

Queer theory is a field of <a href="/facts/Post-structuralist/N1GPxB42">post-structuralist</a> <a href="/facts/Critical_theory/2R9f1DNe">critical theory</a> that emerged in the early 1990s out of <a href="/facts/Queer_studies/DHpJ6YVx">queer studies</a> (formerly often known as <a href="/facts/Gay/PP0DUqGT">gay</a> and <a href="/facts/Lesbian/b8hj21I6">lesbian</a> studies) and <a href="/facts/Women%2527s_studies/M63aICxC">women's studies</a>. The term "queer theory" is broadly associated with the study and theorization of gender and sexual practices that exist outside of <a href="/facts/Heterosexuality/HDLc2Mna">heterosexuality</a>, and which challenge <a href="/facts/Heteronormativity/0Fmphyve">the notion that heterosexuality is what is normal</a>. 
Following <a href="/facts/Social_constructivism/cxjjul8l">social constructivist</a> developments in <a href="/facts/Sociology/d2Fd0N87">sociology</a>, queer theorists are often critical of what they consider <a href="/facts/Essentialism/37ILVlmm">essentialist</a> views of <a href="/facts/Human_sexuality/fjnqcFxP">sexuality</a> and <a href="/facts/Gender/LfjRHcJy">gender</a>. Instead, they study those concepts as social and cultural phenomena, often through an analysis of the categories, <a href="/facts/Gender_binary/ww5KJhJG">binaries</a>, and language in which they are said to be portrayed.
Scholars associated with the development of queer theory are French <a href="/facts/Post-structuralist/N1GPxB42">post-structuralist</a> philosopher <a href="/facts/Michel_Foucault/rWu19rjx">Michel Foucault</a>, and American feminist authors <a href="/facts/Gloria_Anzald%25C3%25BAa/o6fFw2jK">Gloria Anzaldúa</a>, <a href="/facts/Eve_Kosofsky_Sedgwick/FaWxUQ1t">Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick</a>, and <a href="/facts/Judith_Butler/stbGjgkf">Judith Butler</a>.

Queer theory open-in-new

Queer theory