queer theory

Michel Foucault (1926-1984) Identity is not fixed; instead, it is fluid, unstable, and context-specific. Power is not an “all-or-nothing” proposition. The “Model of Power”: The problem with theories like Marxism & Feminism is that they imply the hegemony holds all the power; furthermore, clear definitions of identity (e.g., bourgeoisie vs. proletariat, men vs. women) unrealistically portray both the reality of identity and the power dynamic.

Foucault (cont.) Instead, Foucault believed that power can be used and deployed by particular people in specific situations, which itself will produce other reactions and resistances; power is not tied to specific groups or identities. Power is context-specific, as are identities. [Ryan’s editorial comment: Think of power in the same way you would think of energy: it can be stored or expended, depending on circumstances.]

Application to Gender Theory Women, for example, are not one monolithic group, as earlier feminists claimed. A white middle-class American woman has different fluid identities and is involved in different power dynamics than, say, a woman subject to Sharia Law living in Pakistan.

Judith Butler (1956— ) American Professor of Comparative Literature and Rhetoric at UC-Berkeley Gender Trouble (1990): Feminism mistakenly limited women in a binary opposition with men. Such a limitation forces women to identify themselves not only as “not-men,” but also only as women in strictly defined (and limited) terms. Gender is not a fixed attribute (a nod to Foucault).

Butler (cont.) Gender is a performance; it's what you do at particular times, rather than a universal who you are. Everyone does a gender performance, and that performance is in flux depending on the context. In recognizing these performances, we might change our binary understanding of masculinity and femininity.

Tenets of Queer Theory Identity is free-floating. Identity is a performance and, thus, not the “essence” of oneself. David Halperin, professor at U. of Michigan (b. 1952): “Queer is by definition whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominant. There is nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. It is an identity without an essence.”

Tenets (cont.) Queer Theory rejects sweeping assertions about groups of people, such as “All men think this way,” or “All women believe that.” It challenges all notions of fixed identity, and thus seeks to destabilize binary oppositions such as male/female, gay/straight, husband/wife, etc. Thus, in literature, characters’ identities can be reconstrued or challenged in light of these beliefs.

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (1950 -2009) An example of the literary critic as queer theorist: By avoiding a closing couplet to a sonnet and thus ending on the thirteenth line (instead of the fourteenth), the poet asserts personal, individual control over one’s sexuality—as opposed to a couplet, which privileges couplehood.