Queer Theory

According to Barry Brummett (2014), Queer Theory is based heavily on feminism and the studies on gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. One of the most prominent figures of this theory is Judith Butler. In her book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity(1999), she challenges society’s concept of gender identity and feminism, an activist drive for social equality for women. She brings up a social concept she calls “binary categories” which basically states that when every child is born, they are typically placed into one of two distinct categories: male or female, which, in turn, influences how the child is taught to behave for the rest of their life. The concept that in order to truly be deemed a man or woman, one must behave or avoid behaving in certain ways coupled with the idea that it is even necessary to create and abide by these categories are issues that Queer Theory wishes to dispute.

In his work The History of Sexuality, he coins the term “discourse” which he defines as the ways of talking or thinking about a subject that are linked by common expectations (1978). He found in sexuality a development of human subjectification whereby expert discourses (discourse originated from authoritative figures) came to create the sexual subject and his and her desires. Foucault argued, these expert discourses serve as a subtle and dangerous form of social control that shapes human experience and norms more than any event in history (Foucalt,