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Thesis
The fracturing identities and cultural upheaval of the postmodern age triggered a re-examination of who we are and how we love. -
Stonewall Riots
New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village, sparking a riot that led to six days of protests and violence. Considered the catalyst for the gay liberation movement. -
“The Woman-Identified Woman” by the Radicalesbians
A feminist and lesbian manifesto that marked a turning point in the fight against systemic gender inequality. -
Period: to
1970s: Beginnings
Beginnings of lesbian literary tradition and aesthetic, rediscovery of “assumed” heterosexual writers -
“The Traffic in Women” by Gayle Rubin
Challenged heterosexuality as natural -
Lesbian Images by Jane Rule
Aimed to define a lesbian literary tradition by analyzing the lives and works of 20th century lesbian writers -
The History of Sexuality by Michael Foucault
Explored homosexuality of late-19th century -
“Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence” by Adrienne Rich
Argued against the violent misogyny of heterosexuality -
Period: to
1980s: Reinvention
Activists seek to reclaim aspects of gay life, including concepts like effeminacy, drag, camp, homoeroticism, male bonding and the term “queer”. The AIDS crisis leads to reinvention of sexuality and an examination of its intersection with class and economic inequality. -
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa
Examined how female identity has been used to hide power dynamics in non-Western cultures -
“What is a Lesbian Novel?” by Alison Hennegan
Identified a lesbian sensibility -
Sexuality and Its Discontents: Meanings, Myths, and Modern Sexualities by Jeffrey Weeks
Examined politics and philosophy of sex including the effect of capitalism on sexuality -
Between Men: English Literature and Male Homosexual Desire, by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Linked queer theory to feminism and examined link between sex, sexuality, and gender -
“What Has Never Been: An Overview of Lesbian Feminist Literary Criticism” by Bonnie Zimmerman
Proposed lesbian ‘double vision’, a result of their dual identities as members of both the mainstream and the minority -
Articulate Flesh by Gregory Wood
Explored expression of homoeroticism in literary works -
“The Plague of Discourse: Politics, Literary Theory, and AIDS” by Susan Sontag
Argued queer theory must take into account the AIDS crisis -
Epistemology of the Closet by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick
Questioned the oversimplifications of binary oppositions that limit sexual freedom and identity -
Period: to
1990s: Evolution
Queer studies begin to move beyond lesbian and gay identities to include those that disrupt fixed binaries. -
Sexual Dissidence: Augustine to Wilde, Freud to Foucault by Jonathan Dollimore
Explored the intersection of power and pleasure -
“Imitation and Gender Insubordination” by Judith Butler
Argued rejection of hetero/homosexual binary and for the queering of master narratives -
Nationalisms and Sexualities by Parker et al.
Explored the relationships between nationalism, sexuality, and identity -
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
Pushed queer theory beyond the limits of gay and lesbian identity to explore all gender and sexual identities -
Sexual Sameness: Textual Difference in Lesbian and Gay Writing edited by Joseph Bristow
Argued gay and lesbian criticisms have parallel histories but are not the same -
The Politics and Poetics of Camp edited by Morris Meyer
Reexamined the meaning of “camp,” its place in queer texts, and its appropriation by pop culture -
The Geography of Perversion: Male-to-male Sexual Behaviour Outside the West and the Ethnographic Imagination, 1750-1918, by Rudi C. Bleys
Studied the connection between the otherness of non-western societies and homosexual identity -
The Psychic Life of Power by Judith Butler
Argued the role of the psyche in the formation of sexual identity under social constraints -
Excitable Speech: A Politics of the Performance by Judith Butler
Studied the reclamation of hate speech, pornography, and discrimination for pro-queer purposes -
Sources
Selden, Raman, et al. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Routledge, 2017. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=nlebk&AN=1441321&site=ehost-live&scope=site.