The (Ir)Relevance of Lesbian Identity within Contemporary Theorizing: A Poststructural Critique of Lesbian Feminist and Queer Theory

• Author / Creator

  Casey, Melissa

• Lesbian identity has become germane to contemporary theorizing on sexuality. Since the early 1990’s, queer theory and critique have served to reveal the limitations and challenges of earlier lesbian feminist theory. However, queer theory has also encountered challenges, leaving theorizing on sexuality, and in particular women’s sexuality, in contemporary contexts, complicated and unclear.
  This textual theoretical study will include a comparative analysis of relevant literature in the fields of lesbian feminist and queer theory. An attempt will be made to map the emergence of lesbian and queer by examining the competing ideological models of structuralism and poststructuralism, which circulated alongside these discourses of (anti)identity theory, having profound influence. Through a poststructuralist critique situated within feminist discourse, the theoretical analyses will be applied through a phenomenological application of personal experiences in relation to the identity of lesbian and queer, in order to attempt to reveal the writer’s current location on theorizing sexuality.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Feminism
  • Structural linguistics
  • Relevance
  • Sex radicals
  • Lesbian
  • Theory
  • Intersectionality
  • Structuralism
  • Poststructuralism
  • Cultural feminism
  • Queer
  • Sex wars
  • Identity
  • Post queer

• Graduation date

  Spring 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3NB06

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.