Queer Theory: Introduction

Useful Shelf Numbers

I Extend My Arms, 1931/1932, Claude Cahun. Tate, © The estate of Claude Cahun

Below is a list of useful shelf numbers for books, pamphlets and catalogues in the library that will be useful for your assignments. Use the Discovery Catalogue to search for items.

150           Psychology

305           Gender Studies

306.7        Gender and Sexuality

391           Fashion      

770.92      Photography   

808.02      Reference and Citation  

Introduction: Queer Theory and Art

"A critical discourse developed in the 1990s in order to deconstruct (or ‘to queer’) sexuality and gender in the wake of gay identity politics, which had tended to rely on strategic essentialism. Opposed to gender essentialism, queer theorists see sexuality as a discursive social construction, fluid, plural, and continually negotiated rather than a natural, fixed, core identity. ‘The representation of gender is its construction,’ declares the Italian-American feminist theorist Teresa de Lauretis, who coined the term ‘queer theory’ in 1990. Butler, seeking to destabilize binary oppositions such as gay/straight, introduced the key concept of performativity. Queer theory has itself been a significant influence on cultural and literary theory, postcolonialism, and sociology, and ‘queering’ is now applied also to the ‘boundaries’ of academic disciplines." (Oxford Reference)

This LibGuide highlights just some of our holdings on Queer theory and visual art, and aims to get your research journey started. As always, if there is a title that you would like to see added to the collection, please let us know! 

Jimmy Paulette after the parade, NYC, 1991, Nan Goldin. Tate, Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of Peter Norton 2012. © Nan Goldin. Photo: Tate