My project examines the formation of (critical) theory within the radical gay movement of the 1970s in (West-)Germany as a specific constellation of critique. Aside from the theoretical ideas, theory-building processes are central to my project. In their efforts of analyzing and critiquing the connection between sexuality and domination, an essential characteristic of the radical gay movement becomes apparent: the reciprocal relationship between experience and critique. The hegemonic production of knowledge was countered by subjective theorizing based in one's own experiences. As a historically situated, critical practice, the interventions and debates of the radical gay movement aimed at giving texture to the relations between society, gender, sexuality and emancipation – therefore, they are as much a contribution to the theorization of sexuality as they are a mode of critique.

In addition to its historical significance, this critical practice offers a remarkable original contribution as well as a surprising timeliness that, especially in its unredeemed moments, point to a transformative potential in the present that may also inform contemporary (queer) theory and practice.

My project draws on Walter Benjamin's and Hannah Arendt's conceptualizations of history as well as their contemporary feminist receptions to develop an understanding of non-linear and multidirectional history opening up the possibility of simultaneously determining the theoretical ideas of the gay movement as documents grounded in their times and as presently effective.