A post-structuralism approach to the analysis, documenting, history, and understanding of human sexuality. It is particularly (but not exclusively) interested in forms of sexuality that fall outside (or are defined in opposition to) the so-called heterosexual norm. It grew out of and exists alongside Queer Studies, effectively functioning as the latterâs forum for raising definitional and ontological questions concerning what it means to be bisexual, gay, lesbian, or straight. The work of Foucault, Michel, particularly his work on power and the history of sexuality, is generally credited as the principal theoretical impetus. Foucaultâs work sought to find out both how and why human sexuality came to be treated as an item of knowledge and the cultural and political implications of the attempt to make it knowable. In general, Foucaultâs work shows that power exerts itself by creating regimes of inclusion and exclusion. The point that is often missed by Foucaultâs readers is that it is the form of the binary itself that primarily interests Foucault, not the content. In other words, it is not the fact that straight is included and queer is excluded by a given society that concerns Foucault, but rather the fact that the elastic continuum of sexuality can be segmented so neatly despite the obvious permeability of the key categories. In the wake of Foucaultâs studies, there has proliferated an incredible array of works that affirm the existence of regimes of inclusion and exclusion and show the myriad ways its categories leak. The most prominent in this regard is Eve Kosofsky Sedgwickâs Epistemology of the Closet (1990), and Butler, Judithâs Gender Trouble (1990). Further Reading: I. Morland and A. Willox (eds.) Queer Theory: Readers in Cultural Criticism (2004). N. Sullivan A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory (2003).