Queer Theory

Queer theory functions as a mode of analysis, and it challenges normative ideologies, that is, taken-for-granted assumptions pertaining to sexuality and identity. It contends that identities are elastic and do not determine who people are because identity is not connected to fixed ideas or essences. Queer theory assumes that sexual identities are a result of representations; more than a marker of who people are, identity is a result of what they do—in effect, a performance. Queer theory is important in education because it questions received (predominant) notions of academic disciplinary knowledge, textual and cultural production and interpretation, identity, and difference, but it does not limit its focus to sexual issues.

Identity is a critical and persistent question. Individuals discover their identity by sampling from those that society/culture presents as possibilities. Identity politics, which hinges on marginalized or racialized groups, stresses definition and essentialism even though this can create further marginalization. Queer theory engages in a critique of received identity and suggests that any identity can be potentially redefined or reinvented by its owner.

For example, the norms that govern gender identification are established on a male/female dichotomy because, in general, humans tend to be one sex or the other and express their gender within strict parameters. That is why individuals who do not appear to conform to established gender norms may suffer discrimination at work and outright prejudice in social settings. Heterosexuality is accepted as the received causal connection of chromosomal sex, gender, and sexuality (or sexual desire). However, queer theory argues that heterosexuality is an effect of this continuum and not its source. It is the behavior that gives rise to the identity, not the biology.