Intersections Between Feminist and Queer Theory

The emergence of queer ideas has unsettled other forms of exploring gender and sexuality, in particular, feminism. In response, feminists have been significant critics of queer ideas. This book, through the contribution of important US and UK writers, explores the debates between feminist and queer theorizing in order to seek out interconnections between the two and identify new directions in thinking about sexuality and gender that may emerge out of and at the interface.

How are questions of cultures and identities being reconfigured? What political communities and strategies are becoming possible and impossible in this context? What kinds of theoretical connections and alliances are being made? In addressing these and other questions the chapter authors explore themes such as: queer or feminist?; the distance between the global and local; bringing material and cultural analysis together; and the general legacy of feminism and queer theory. Now in paperback, the book also includes a new Preface by the editors that highlights the recent changes across feminist and queer studies.

DIANE RICHARDSON is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Newcastle, UK. She has written extensively about feminism and sexuality. She is the author of Theorising Heterosexuality, Rethinking Sexuality and, co-edited with Steven Seidman, The Handbook of Lesbian and Gay Studies. She is currently co-editing, with Vicki Robinson, a third edition of Introducing Gender and Women's Studies.

JANICE McLAUGHLIN is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, University of Newcastle, UK. Her research is focused on two interrelated areas. One is the examination of contemporary social theory, which led to her publication, Feminist Social and Political Theory. The other research focus is the examination of the construction of knowledge, meanings and values within healthcare, relating this in particular to professional boundaries, technologies and disability. This work is being taken forward via a number of funded research projects.

MARK E. CASEY is a Lecturer of Sociology at the University of Newcastle, UK, where he teaches Comparing Cultures and Regulating Sexuality. His research interests lie within lesbian and gay urban lives, 'the city', gay male bar and club cultures and his current research project examining gay male travel, the body and sex in Australia. His publications include De-Dyking Queer Space: Female Heterosexual Access and Visibility within Lesbian and Gay Space (Sexualities). He also writes for lifestyle magazines such as Attitude and The Crack.