Queer Theory

Queer theory is a critical framework that took shape in the early 1990s out of lesbian and gay studies, feminist theory, and poststructuralist thought, especially Michel Foucault's argument that sexuality is a social construct rather than something innate. Scholars such as Judith Butler, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Gloria Anzaldúa built the field, which questions the assumption that categories like straight, gay, man, and woman are natural or stable. To 'queer' something means to unsettle it, pushing overlooked assumptions into view. Butler's work on gender as performance, repeated acts rather than an inner essence, is central. Queer theory has shaped LGBTQ+ activism, cultural studies, and the reclaiming of the word 'queer' itself.