Paper Summary:

The purpose of this study is to examine the development of homosexual identity from a discursive perspective, with particular attention paid to the contemporary effects that queer theory has on the destabilization of homosexual-and all gender-identity. In order to accomplish this, the paper examines the origin of the idea of the homosexual as a separate species, distinct from heterosexual individuals.

From the Paper:

"Modern attempts to differentiate homosexuals as a distinct species of human based on their sexual "deviance" are indicative of a social construction of homosexuality and sexual identity that has been emerging since the late 19th century. Sexuality, as Foucault would have it, is a social construction (Spargo 17). In other words, despite attempts by those in positions of social power to naturalize sexuality--and cement homosexuality's purported deviance--there is no essential quality to sexuality that transcends socio-cultural and historical contexts."

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