The feminist and queer theories share a common political interest—a concern for women’s and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual rights. Queer theory was developed in the 1990s; it grew out of lesbian and gay studies. Its premise is the belief that domination and its related characteristics, such as heterosexism and homophobia, should be resisted. Resisting the model of sexuality that claims heterosexuality as its origin, queer theory focuses on mismatches between sex, gender, and desire (Schlichter, 2004). Queer theorists believe that studies need to examine how a variety of sexualities are constructed and to abandon the category of “homosexual” (Rudy, 2000). Categories are cultural constructions that limit and restrain. Overall, queer theorists and some feminists believe that meaningful societal change can come about only through radical change and cannot be introduced into a society in a piecemeal way (Turner, 2000). (The accompanying Sex in Real Life presents examples of studies that researchers with different theoretical backgrounds might be interested in doing.) Now let’s turn our attention to some of the important sexuality studies that have been done.
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