MUST IDENTITY MOVEMENTS SELF-DESTRUCT - A QUEER DILEMMA

Drawing on debates in lesbian and gay periodicals and writings from an d about post-structuralist ''queer theory'' and politics. this paper c larifies the meanings and distinctive politics of ''queerness,'' in or der to trace its implications for social movement theory and research. The challenge of queer theory and politics, I argue, is primarily in its disruption of sex and gender identity boundaries and deconstructio n of identity categories. The debates (over the use of the term ''quee r'' and over bisexual and transgender inclusion) raise questions not o nly about the content of sexuality-based political identities, but ove r their viability and usefulness. This in turn challenges social movem ent theory to further articulate dynamics of collective identity forma tion and deployment. While recent social movement theory has paid atte ntion to the creation and negotiation of collective identity, it has n ot paid sufficient attention to the simultaneous impulse to destabiliz e identities from within. That tendency, while especially visible in l esbian and gay movements, is also visible in other social movements. I t calls attention to a general dilemma of identity politics: Fixed ide ntity categories are both the basis for oppression and the basis for p olitical power. The insights of bath sides of the dilemma highlighted here raise important new questions for social movement theory and rese arch.