A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory

Front Cover
NYU Press, 2003 - Social Science - 232 pages

Explores the ways in which sexuality, subjectivity and sociality have been discursively produced in various historical and cultural contexts

The book begins by putting gay and lesbian sexuality and politics in historical context and demonstrates how and why queer theory emerged in the West in the late twentieth century. Sullivan goes on to provide a detailed overview of the complex ways in which queer theory has been employed, covering a diversity of key topics including: race, sadomasochism, straight sex, fetishism, community, popular culture, transgender, and performativity. Each chapter focuses on a distinct issue or topic, provides a critical analysis of the specific ways in which it has been responded to by critics (including Freud, Foucault, Derrida, Judith Butler, Jean-Luc Nancy, Adrienne Rich and Laura Mulvey), introduces key terms, and uses contemporary cinematic texts as examples.

 

Contents

Assimilation or Liberation Sexuality or Gender?
22
A Question of Being or A Question of Doing?
37
Queer Race
57
Performance Performativity Parody and Politics
81
Transsexual Empires and Transgender Warriors
99
Queering Straight Sex
119
Community and its Discontents
136
Sadomasochism as Resistance?
151
Fetishisms and the Politics of Perversion
168
Queering Popular Culture
189
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About the author (2003)

Nikki Sullivan is a lecturer in the Department of Critical and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University. She is the author of Tattooed Bodies: Subjectivity, Textuality, Ethics, Pleasure; and numerous articles on body modification and on sexuality.