One lesbian feminist epistemology: Integrating feminist standpoint, queer theory, and feminist cultural studies

This paper describes an epistemology integrating feminist standpoint, queer theory, and feminist cultural studies. Feminist standpoint theory assumes that people develop different perspectives based on their position in socie ty, and women have a distinct standpoint because of the power differential between females and mates in our society. Queer theory places sexuality as a central focus, acknowledges the common history of devaluation of nonheter osexual individuals, and challenges the current power structure marginalizi ng nonheterosexuals. Feminist cultural studies examines the role of gender within our cultural interactions and the reproduction of gender inequality in society. I then provide examples illustrating how these perspectives com e together and guide my research investigating the experiences of lesbians in sport and women's bodily experiences.