Queer Theory and Critical Race Theory

Question 1

Queer theory explores and challenges

Answer 1

the way in which heterosexuality is constructed as the norm as well as the way in which media has limited representations of LGBTQ+ people.

Question 2

How has the term”queer” been used as an activist strategy?

Answer 2

It’s been reclaimed from a slur to a term to describe people outside of the heterosexual norm.

Question 3

What are three assumptions that queer theory challenges?

Answer 3

1. Identities are “fixed”.
2. Sexuality and gender are binary.
3. “Normal” and “abnormal” are clear cut, static categories.

Question 4

What is the key idea of queer theory?

Answer 4

That identity is socially constructed. Identities are performative, produced by certain forms of knowledge, and contextual.

Question 5

We do not “represent” pre-existing identities, but our performance of them makes them real.

Answer 5

Performativity

Question 6

You have a fixed sex –> upon which culture builds a stable gender –> which determines your desires.

Answer 6

The Heterosexual Matrix

Question 7

5 Main Premises of Critical Race Theory

Answer 7

1. Racism is ordinary
2. Society privileges whiteness over “of colour”
3. Race is a “social construct”
4. Intersectional analysis
5. “voice-of-colour” thesis

Question 8

The advantages that come from being a part of a dominant group.

Answer 8

Privilege

Question 9

Intersectional analysis

Answer 9

No person has a single, easily stated, unitary identity.

Question 10

Voice-of-colour thesis

Answer 10

Similar to standpoint, the born into a social group can achieve a unique understanding about oppression.