Building on Feminism: Gender Theory/Queer Theory

Buildingon Feminism: Gender Theory/Queer Theory
•Butler, excerpt from Gender Trouble (NATC, 2485-2502)
•Sedgwick, excerpts from Between Men and Epistemology of the Closet (NATC, 2432-45)

•Haraway, excerpt from A Manfesto for Cyborgs (NATC, 2266-99)

Can I get a quick definition?

“Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies and Women's studies. Queer theory includes both queer readings of texts and the theorisation of 'queerness' itself. Heavily influenced by the work of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, and Lauren Berlant, queer theory builds both upon feminist challenges to the idea that gender is part of the essential self and upon gay/lesbian studies' close examination of the socially constructed nature of sexual acts and identities. Whereas gay/lesbian studies focused its inquiries into "natural" and "unnatural" behaviour with respect to homosexual behaviour, queer theory expands its focus to encompass any kind of sexual activity or identity that falls into normative and deviant categories.”

So let's apply it to La Femme!

Femme and butch lesbian identities date back to the early 20th century in the US, but it wasn’t until the 1940s and the rise of lesbian bar culture that butch-femme culture grew far more visible. By the 1950’s, the butch-femme model was so influential that lesbians felt compelled to identify as either femme or butch in order to participate in mainstream lesbian culture (Levitt et al. 99). Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, butch-femme dynamics remained prominent in lesbian communities and came to define popular understandings of lesbian identities and relationships in the U.S. Thus, for the majority of this time, femme-ininity was defined almost solely in relation to its counterpart and supposed opposite, butch. Femme was (and for some, still is) considered to be a feminine lesbian identity and gender presentation marked by docility. According to Elizabeth Galewski in “Figuring the Feminist Femme,” “Where the butch came to be lauded as the ‘visible,’ ‘public,’ and hence ‘political’ face of same-sex desire, the femme was implicitly conflated with weakness, passivity, and even complicity in the face of oppression” (186). Thus, not only were femmes perceived to be butches’ weaker, less visible counterparts; they were seen as less queer, less of a threat to heteronormativity and patriarchy in the public sphere.

Femme identities, cultures, and politics are critical to understandings of queerness in historical and contemporary US contexts, and yet they are too often rendered invisible in queer communities and discourses on queerness. When queer femme-ininity and femmes are acknowledged or represented, many are marginalized, dismissed, and/or deemed less queer (or not queer at all) because of their seemingly “straight” gender presentations. Other representations of queer femmes are overly simplistic and ignore the ways in which gender, sexuality, race, and other aspects of identity impact our unique constructions of femme-ininity. Nevertheless, femme remains a powerful and meaningful identity category, gender presentation, politic, and community for many queer and transgendered people today.