Editing Queer theory (section)

==History==
Informal use of the term "queer theory" began with [[Gloria Anzaldúa]] and other scholars in the 1990s, themselves influenced by the work of French [[post-structuralist]] philosopher [[Michel Foucault]],<ref name="SAGE"/> who viewed sexuality as [[Social constructionism|socially constructed]] and rejected [[identity politics]].<ref name="Downing, Lisa 2008">{{cite book |last1=Downing |first1=Lisa |title=The Cambridge Introduction to Michel Foucault |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86443-5 |pages=104–117 }}</ref> Queer theory's roots can also be traced back to activism, with the reclaiming of the derogatory term "queer" as an umbrella term for those who do not identify with heteronormativity in the 1980s.<ref name=":1" /> This would continue on in the 1990s, with [[Queer Nation]]'s use of "queer" in their protest chants, such as "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!"<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Queer Nation NY History |url=https://queernationny.org/history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221116043248/https://queernationny.org/history |archive-date=2022-11-16 |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=Queer Nation NY |language=en}}</ref> 

[[Teresa de Lauretis]] organized the first queer theory conference in 1990. According to [[David Halperin]], an early queer theorist, de Lauretis' usage was somewhat controversial at first, as she chose to combine the word "queer" which was just starting to be used in a "gay-affirmative sense by activists, street kids, and members of the art world," and the word "theory" which was seen as very academically weighty.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Halperin |first=David M. |date=2003-09-23 |title=The Normalization of Queer Theory |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J082v45n02_17 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |language=en |volume=45 |issue=2–4 |pages=339–343 |doi=10.1300/J082v45n02_17 |pmid=14651188 |s2cid=37469852 |issn=0091-8369|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the early 1990s, the term started to become legitimized in academia.<ref name="SAGE">{{cite book | last=Goldberg | first=A.E. | title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies | publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] | location=Thousand Oaks, California | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-4833-7132-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ss2DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT915 | access-date=2023-09-01 | page=915}}</ref>

As an academic discipline, queer theory itself was developed by American academics [[Judith Butler]] at [[University of California, Berkeley|University of California, Berkley]], and [[Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick]] at [[Duke University]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Dinitia |date=January 17, 1998 |title='Queer Theory' Is Entering The Literary Mainstream - The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/17/books/queer-theory-is-entering-the-literary-mainstream.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090420041230/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/01/17/books/queer-theory-is-entering-the-literary-mainstream.html |archive-date=2009-04-20 |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> Other early queer theorists include [[Michael Warner]], [[Lauren Berlant]], and [[Adrienne Rich]].<ref name="SAGE" />{{Page needed|date=December 2021}}

[[Feminist literary criticism]] laid groundwork by linking gender and textual interpretation.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Love |first=Heather |title=A history of feminist literary criticism |last2= |first2= |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85255-5 |editor-last=Plain |editor-first=Gill |location=Cambridge |chapter=Feminist criticism and queer theory |editor-last2=Sellers |editor-first2=Susan}}</ref> Foundational works like Sedgwick’s ''[[Epistemology of the Closet]]'' (1990) drew on literary and philosophical traditions to examine the homo/heterosexual binary. Sedgwick, [[D. A. Miller]], [[Leo Bersani]], and other queer literary critics have analyzed themes such as the closet, shame, and power in narratives.<ref name=":02" />