The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how – in what ways – Jeanette Wintersons Written on the Body and Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet are queer texts. My method is that of a thematic analysis, focusing on words and phenomenon related to definitions of the multi facetted term “queer”. The analysis covers themes of lesbian focus, performativity, performance, speech-acts, and heteronormative and queer relationships. My results are presented in a dialogue between the novels themes and queer theory, foremost represented by Judith Butler. My conclusion is that the literary texts are indeed queer, in several ways, and that both of them, although different, serve important queer purposes.