Queer identities, rupturing identity categories and negotiating meanings of queer

grantor: University of TorontoQueer is a contested term with numerous meanings. This thesis explores how queer is taken up as a personal identity and asks why some individuals are choosing to identify as queer over other existing sexuality identities such as gay, lesbian, heterosexual, and to a lesser extent bisexual. The meanings attributed to queer by queer-identified people go beyond simply naming the sex/es of their partner/s. When invoked by the participants of this study the term queer can mean/be: something you are; something you call yourself; something you do; a way to think (theory); and a way to act--sexually and politically. Throughout the five sections which make up this thesis I will describe some of the meanings ascribed to queer, and explore the ways in which queer is understood and represented by people who claim, or have claimed, queer as their sexuality identity category.M.A