Sociology as bridge over troubled waters: establishing a link between the principles of lesbian and gay studies and queer theory

Abstract

Lesbian and gay studies emerged in the late 1950s and provided what several academics considered a homogeneous representation of the lesbian and gay community. Based on the critique of this view, queer theory came to the fore during the early 1990s, as a political initiative to highlight the diverse nature of homosexual experiences. Both paradigms heralded indefatigable insights into the lives of these two sexual minorities, yet without a necessary bridge between the homogeneous and the heterogeneous. The objective of the article is to provide a theoretical contemplation of how the manner in which the principles that lesbian and gay studies and queer theory respectively exude, may complement each other so as to offer a link between the 'homogeneous' and the 'diverse', pertaining to the lived experiences of gay men and lesbian women