Who Are the Queer Theorists?

Apr 15, 2015
1 min read

Judith Butler is

a world known Queer Theorist, mostly famous from her work Gender Troubles. She was born in 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio to a family of Hugarian and Russian Jewish descent. Most of her grandmother's family perished the Holocaust. She always had a passion for political pholosphy, gender, and queer theories. Gender Troubles was first published in 1990 selling over 100,000 copies. Gender Troubles holds the argument of sex being defined as only two things: male and female. She stated the feminist movement is out-dated ud to the defining of two sexes and emphasis on one. She argues we shouldn't categorize others, because that makes it difficult for them to figure out their own identity.

You can read all of Gender Troubles here: http://www.lauragonzalez.com/TC/BUTLER_gender_trouble.pdf

Eve Sedgwick was

born in 1950 in Dayton, Ohio. She was an American academic scholar in the fields of gender studies, queer theory, and critical theory. Eve Sedgiwck is known for her work How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay which was world shaking. She started out with statics of suicide rates to get everyone's attention. She wanted to basically slap everyone in the face for ever giving some that was gay any sort of hate since they were two to three times more likely to commit suicide than other young people. She wanted to bring the issues to light such as the treatment of those in the LGBT community, and how it effects them. Her work was relevant in 1991 and just as much relevant today.

You can read all of How to Bring Your Kids Up Gay here:

http://www2.law.columbia.edu/faculty_franke/Gay_Marriage/Sedgwick%20How%20to%20Bring%20Your%20Kids%20Up%20Gay.pdf

Why they care: Before Queer theorists brought these issues to light there were only two sexes that "mattered" women, and men. And if you weren't a part of those then you will be shunned, threatened, and maybe even killed. The femenist movement brought light to women but what about those who had to hide in the shadows their whole life just to protect themselves? The LGBT is HUGE and evergrowing. The Queer Theorists not only brought beautiful works of literature to the table, but gave the LGBT community a voice. Not only is the LGBT community growing, but so is the community of Queer theorists. Today, you can find them all over in every media platform. Some examples are Macklemore, P!nk, Angelina Jolie, and Ellen.