Queer theory meaning in psychology

This entry engages queer theory in its opposition to heteronormativity by discussing the meaning of queer, the emergence of queer theory since the early s, and the relationship between queer theory and research.

Queer theory meaning in psychology: Queer theory is broadly associated with

Historically, queer has been a derogatory term used to diminish sexual-minority persons and assault their integrity and dignity. Including lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, intersex, and two-spirited individuals, queer represents a diverse and at best loosely configured spectral community across sex, sexual, and gender differences.

Queers have different histories, identities, identifications, needs, and desires that set them apart not only from heterosexuals, but also from one another. The interwoven historical, social, and cultural thread connecting queers across differences is marginalization. For some, the terms trans-identified, intersexand two-spirited may be new. Trans-identified describes individuals whose gender identity does not conform to the simplicity of the male-female, two-gender model.

Intersex depicts individuals who may possess both male and female biological sex characteristics. Two-spirited is an Aboriginal term used to refer to persons whose bodies are believed to have both a masculine and a feminine spirit. In terms of its etymology or history as a word, queer has long been used to connote someone odd, curious, different, peculiar, strange, or unusual.

Since the early s, beginning with the U. The Psychology of the Sour Grape Effect. About the Author. More from Daniel Lyons M. More from Psychology Today. Back Psychology Today. Back Find a Therapist. Back Get Help. Mental Health.

Queer theory meaning in psychology: Queer Theory is.

Passive Aggression Personality Shyness. Personal Growth. Low Sexual Desire Relationships Sex. Family Life. A focused search for queer studies programmes based in the UK revealed a masters programme called Queer Studies and Arts Based Practice at Birmingham City University and an interdisciplinary masters programme in Sexuality and Gender Studies at the University of Birmingham, with an explicit focus on queer theory amongst other critical approaches University of Birmingham, n.

Beyond our identification of locations where queer theory is explicitly branded as a part of course curriculum, there are a number of key points to be made about queer studies as an area of academic study. First, as mentioned above, queer studies may not automatically be representative of queer theory. In the following sections of this chapter, we elaborate in greater detail some of the points made above with specific focus on the relationship between queer theory and social psychology.

We begin by examining the limited ways in which queer theory has appeared in leading social psychology journals, demonstrating that there has been little uptake within mainstream academic outlets. We then outline in some detail what we believe to be the central arguments of queer theory, before then taking up these arguments with application to some of our own work.

From there we highlight some of the key areas that we believe, into the future, hold opportunities for the use of queer theory within critical social psychology. We conclude by drawing attention to the fraught nature of any attempts at the institutionalisation of queer theory, in this case within the context of social psychology. Queer Theory. It is a tool for creating new worlds that are currently not viable for under-represented or oppressed communities, prompting a queer theory meaning in psychology stance to current norms.

According to critical theorist Daniel J. Gil De Lamadrid, intersectionality can be used to examine how queer identity is racialized as normatively white, and the intersectional stigma and resistance that comes from such racialization. Intersectionality recognizes that complex identities and social categories form from "structured multiple oppression.

However, queer theorists and activists like Lisa Duggan have noted that such groups prioritize the voices of some groups over others by focusing on specific identities like "gay middle-class men" rather than complex and intersectional ones. Jones argues being euphorically queer should not presume typical happiness narrative arcs and should make room for negativity; queer diverse people will need to critique society and critique critique of society but can still be euphoric about being queer and intersectional.

According to Adam Isaiah Green, a professor at the University of Torontoqueer theory might be doing a disservice to the study of queer people for, among other reasons, unduly doing away with categories of sexuality and gender that had an explanatory role in their original context. He argues that for instance the lesbians documented in Cherry Grove, Fire Island [ 41 ] chose to identify specifically as either "ladies", "dykes" or "postfeminists" for generational, ethnic and class reasons.

While they have a shared sexuality, flattening their diversity of identity, culture and expression to "the lesbian community" might be undue and hide the social contigencies that queer theory purports to foreground race, class, ethnicity, gender. According to Joshua Gamsondue to its engagement in social deconstruction, it is nearly impossible for queer theory to talk about a "lesbian" or "gay" subject, as all social categories are denaturalized and reduced to discourse.

Green, queer theory can only examine discourses and not subjectivities. A recurring criticism of queer theory, which often employs sociological jargonis that it is written, according to Brent Pickett, by a "small ideologically oriented elite" and possesses an evident social class bias. It is not only class biased but also, in practice, only really referred to at universities and colleges.

For some feminists, queer theory undermines feminism by blurring the boundaries between gendered social classes, which it explains as personal choices rather than consequences of social structures.

Queer theory meaning in psychology: What Do We Mean

Bruno Perreauthe Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologydiscusses various facets of the French response to queer theory, from the mobilization of activists and the seminars of scholars to the emergence of queer media and translations. Perreau sheds new light on events around gay marriage in Francewhere opponents to the law saw queer theory as a threat to French family.

Perreau questions the return of French Theory to France from the standpoint of queer theory, thereby exploring the way France conceptualizes America. By examining mutual influences across the Atlantic, he seeks to reflect on changes in the idea of national identity in France and the United States, offering insight on recent attempts to theorize the notion of "community" in the wake of Maurice Blanchot 's work.

Perreau offers in his book a theory of minority politics that considers an ongoing critique of norms as the foundation of citizenship, in which a feeling of belonging arises from regular reexamination of it. Lindsay characterize the largely unscientific view on biology and objective reality as an intentional feature. They state that, "queer theory is a political project and its aim is to disrupt".

As such within it, "there can be absolutely no quarter given to any discourse—even matters of scientific fact—that could be interpreted as promoting biological essentialism. One of the ways queer theory has made its way into online discourse is through the popularity of Adrienne Rich 's essay " Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence ".

Rich's theory regarding compulsory heterosexuality or comp-het —the socio-cultural expectation that women must be attracted to men and desire a romantic heterosexual relationship [ 49 ] —inspired the creation of the "Lesbian Masterdoc", a page Google Document originally written in by Anjeli Luz, a Tumblr user who was in the midst of questioning her own sexuality as a teenager.

Katelyn McKenna and John Bargh's studies of online groups consisting of marginalized groups found an interesting phenomenon called "identity demarginalization" — how participation in a group consisting of people with shared marginalized identity can lead to a higher level of self-acceptance, which could lead to eventually coming out to their friends and family.

Online groups and interactions also contribute to normalizing queerness and challenging heteronormativity by serving as a networked counterpublic. Sarah Jackson, Moya Bailey, and Brooke Foucault Welles' discourse analysis of the hashtag GirlsLikeUs shows how trans women have used the hashtag to build community in ways that normalize being trans and offering counter-narratives to the often stereotypical and caricatured portrayal of trans people's lives in popular mainstream media.

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Queer theory meaning in psychology: The queer theory derives

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