Queer Theory

The term queer, once primarily one of abuse, has now come to be associated with political and theoretical positions that offer a challenge to contemporary sexual politics and heterosexuality in particular. Queer's specific political point of departure is the political landscape and agenda of post-Stonewall lesbian and gay identity politics, referring to a 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, and subsequent riots.

The identity politics general objective is to explore, question, and challenge the persistence of the presumption of heterosexuality. Heteronormative is a key term in queer writing. It refers to the social, political, and cultural centrality of heterosexuality, which continues to occupy the place of the assumed and unquestioned norm of human association and function as the ...