queer theory Queer theory is a field of post-structuralist critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies (formerly often known as gay and lesbian studies) and women's studies. The term "queer theory" is broadly associated with the study a ...

and

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek language, Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious mind, unconscious processes and their influence on conscious mind, conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on The Inte ...

, reproductive futurism is the concept that people place value over the future — such as having children — over their current situations. It was created by scholar Lee Edelman in his work '' No Future''.

Background and usage

Edelman created the term in the context of

gay rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Not ...

movements, which he saw as too culturally assimilationist. He criticised the

marriage equality Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 billion people (20% ...

movement as placing inordinate value on marriage, procreation, and the traditional family model. Rather than accepting the criticism from conservatives that LGBT cannot reproduce (and hence marriage is not something they deserve), gay rights activists argued that they were optimal parents and that they deserved marriage. For him, such movements should be abandoned, and LGBT people should embrace their place as symbolic of the

death drive In classical psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, the death drive () is the Drive theory, drive toward destruction in the sense of breaking down complex phenomena into their constituent parts or bringing life back to its inanimate 'dead' state, often ...

(a concept in

). His ultimate position was one of queer negativity. He created a related concept, the ''sinthomosexual'' – LGBT people who reject reproductive futurism and embrace the death drive. Scholar Stephen Guy-Bray writes that the theory of reproductive futurism is essentially a critique of

teleology Teleology (from , and )Partridge, Eric. 1977''Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English'' London: Routledge, p. 4187. or finalityDubray, Charles. 2020 912Teleology. In ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' 14. New York: Robert Appleton ...

, and that it can also be applied to valuing the present over the past.

References

Citations

Works cited

* * * Concepts in social philosophy Psychoanalytic terminology Queer theory {{LGBTQ-studies-stub