Introduction: What “Queer Theories” Can do for You

Abstract

The body of abstract theory and applied readings that came to be known as “queer theory” during the 1990s (and that will be pluralized here — more on that in a moment) is dauntingly complex and diverse. In some ways, the task ahead of us — me as writer attempting to provide a complete overview of the topic, and you as a reader working to acquire comprehensive knowledge — is impossible. Perhaps the best that we can both do is simply to relax and lower our expectations. And, in fact, the theories that we will be discussing here demand a recognition of partiality, of tendentiousness, of epistemological limitations. For readers expecting or insisting upon a guide to mastering “queer theory,” this book will inevitably disappoint. For those who are willing to allow — or perhaps even to embrace — diversity, partiality, and the impossibility of comprehensiveness, this book may provide useful information and even a few pleasures.