Editing Queer theory (section)

==Queering family communication==
Queer theory's [[interdisciplinarity]] is evident in its application in and critique of family communication. One of the criticisms regarding family communication is its focus on "mainstream" families, often focusing on heterosexual parents and children.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Littlejohn |first=Stephen W. |title=Theories of human communication |date=May 2021 |publisher=Waveland Press, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-4786-4667-9 |oclc=1259328675}}</ref>

Although more studies on family communication have started to include nontraditional families, critical rhetorical scholar Roberta Chevrette<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dr. Roberta Chevrette {{!}} Faculty {{!}} Middle Tennessee State University |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/faculty/roberta-chevrette/intexpert |access-date=2022-10-15 |website=www.mtsu.edu |language=en |archive-date=2022-10-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221015183115/https://www.mtsu.edu/faculty/roberta-chevrette/intexpert |url-status=live }}</ref> argues that researchers continue to look at nontraditional families, including families with openly queer members, from a heteronormative lens.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Chevrette |first=Roberta |date=2013-03-19 |title=Outing Heteronormativity in Interpersonal and Family Communication: Feminist Applications of Queer Theory "Beyond the Sexy Streets" |journal=Communication Theory |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=170–190 |doi=10.1111/comt.12009 |issn=1050-3293}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> That is, when studying LGBTQ+ families, many scholars continue to compare these families to their [[Cisgender|cis]]-heterosexual counterparts' norms. As Chevrette writes, "Queering family communication requires challenging ideas frequently taken for granted and thinking about sexual identities as more than check marks."<ref name=":0" />

Chevrette describes four ways that scholars can "queer" family communication: (1) revealing the biases and heteronormative assumptions in family communication; (2) challenging the treatment of sexuality and queerness as a personal and sensitive topic reserved for the private sphere rather than the public; (3) interpreting identity as a socially constructed phenomenon and sexuality as being fluid in order to expose the ways gender roles and stereotypes are reinforced by notions of identity and sexuality as being fixed; and (4) emphasizing [[intersectionality]] and the importance of studying different identity markers in connection with each other.<ref name=":0" />