WOMS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Havelock Ellis, Queer Theory, Queer Studies
23 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
3/5
Lecture 13
Queer Theory
Queer Theory
• There are multiple queer theories rather than just one
• Some refuse to say what it is and feel it’s impossible to define
The Word “Queer”
• An umbrella term
• Strange
• Hate speech
• Generally seen as a verb by queer theory
• Reclaiming queer
• Queering queer
• Has multiple meanings
Queer Interventions
• Queer activism
• Queer studies
• Queer theory
Early Sexologists/Invention of Homosexuality
• Magnus Hirschfield (1868-1935)
o Launched one of the first gay rights organizations in Berlin
o Founded the Institute for Sexual Science (1919)
o The Nazis destroyed his work and declared him a “Jewish criminal”
• Henry Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)
o British physician and psychologist
o Helped write one of the first medical textbooks on homosexuality in 1897
– studies in the Psychology of Sex
• Richard Von Krafft-Ebing (1840-1902)
o Prominent psychiatrist
o Studied sexual deviancy
o “Sexual Psychopathy: A Clinical Forensic Study” (1886)
• Sigmund Freud
o Founder of psychoanalysis
o Working in the late 19th- early 20th centuries (1856-1939)
o The idea that sex was for pleasure vs. procreation
o Developed a stage model of sexual development
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Queer theory: there are multiple queer theories rather than just one, some refuse to say what it is and feel it"s impossible to define. The word queer : an umbrella term, strange, hate speech, generally seen as a verb by queer theory, reclaiming queer, queering queer, has multiple meanings. Queer interventions: queer activism, queer studies, queer theory. Wanted to discover what happened to women during sex: founders of sex therapy: taught people how to enjoy sex again, conversion therapy: controversial. Homosexuality in perspective (1979: developed the human sexual response cycle , excitement, plateau, orgasm, resolution. Homophile movement: 1950s & 1960s, early movements generally used assimilationist strategies, homophile: dated term for homosexuality. How we think about sex: key assumptions: Identities are fixed and essential: sexuality and gender are binary, normal and abnormal sex can usefully be distinguished, queer theory believes these ideas are flawed and shows how these ideas reinforce the status quo.
